Unexpected Things
by RintinDestiny
Summary: She was a normal girl who hated surprises. Now, everyday is a new adventure for Avery Ritz and meeting four mutant turtles was far from her activities list. Unfortunately, the turtles are the least of her worries.
1. Chapter 1: Injuries

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**So I saw the movie and liked it a lot more than I thought I would...so much so that this little gem popped into my head. Dunno if I'm gunna continue it or not but hopefully someone likes it :) Would love to hear anything you have to say! God bless- Rin**

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Chapter 1: Injuries

It's strange, when one is so close to death, how the senses are heightened for however long a time you have left. The first thing that Avery truly noticed besides the ripping pain in her back were the smells. The chalky tang of smoke that coated her burning throat. The coppery scent of her own blood that was only slightly over powered by the smell of dirt and dust which felt suffocating in her nose.

The next thing that Avery noticed besides pain were the yells of people and the screams of police sirens. She could tell that other people were stuck in the rumble that had collapsed from the tall skyscraper that loomed over head.

It had been a perfectly ordinary day up until the point that the building had begun to collapse. She had been walking back to her apartment from her office job down the street when people began running and screaming. Avery had just been able to look up to see the descending rubble before it fell.

The girl could barely make out anything around her and funnily enough the one sense that seemed to have dulled in the chaos was Avery's sight. She could barely see the shapes of metal and rubble that were piled around her. She tried to raise her arm but she found that even the slightest movement made her entire body scream in pain. Blackness over took the young woman for a moment and she was unsure of how much time passed before she regained consciousness.

This time she noticed how dull everything had become. Sounds seemed muffled and her lungs didn't seem to be working correctly. Every rise of her damaged chest sent spasms of pain throughout Avery's body. She was dimly aware of something moving nearby along with the clink of sharp metal sliding into place.

The girl let her head fall back and she looked up to see that a large chunk of metal had been shifted by a large gray mass in her vision that was steadily coming towards her.

Dully, Avery realized that the gray mass was some sort of person that was making it's way over and she tried to call out. The only sound that came from her was a moan that ended with a huff of breath. Either way the figure seemed to noticed.

There were loud clangs as the silver/gray mass came over seemed to gaze down at Avery through the mess of tangled metal and rubble. Avery waited but the figure didn't do anything and a slight flash of panic went through her as she realized that whoever this person was...they were going to watch her die.

She tried to move again but the only response that her body gave was pain and she whimpered as blackness circled her vision. Through the haze though she saw the figure turn to leave.

Suddenly, there was the high pitched screech of metal bending and a whole section of rubble collapsed, sending the figure spinning out of the way and Avery felt something in her leg snap as a beam fell from above. There was a loud growl and the girl screamed, wetness splashing her face and chest. There were more shouts from outside of the rubble but Avery had no time to register calling for help. The blackness swallowed her and she graciously accepted the invitation into oblivion.

* * *

Silence was normally something that Donatello would have relished to have just five minutes of...but that was before the past few days happened. After about two hours of it he was starting to wish that anyone, even Mikey would say or do something.

At the moment the purple banded turtle was trying to salvage what was left of his precious computer and equipment from their half destroyed home. Master Splinter was still resting and would probably continue to do so for quite a while. Each of the turtles were taking turns in watching over him and getting him anything he needed. Right now it was Raph's turn and he was taking his role extremely seriously. Sitting in the curtained off room in contemplative silence.

Leo was out making sure that no remaining Foot had tried to get back down into the sewers and had been patrolling for a good couple hours. Mikey was fast asleep in a hammock that he had salvaged from his old room, his snores were covered by an up thrown arm.

Donnie hefted a heavily dented computer tower up out of the rubble and wiped the brick dust off to examine the damage. A few scrapes and a broken router plug but for him that was an easy fix. Just some duck tape, wire, and two clothes pins could repair that. He carefully put it next to the sparse group of other things that he was able to save from the mess. He continued in this pattern, finding some odd or end of his old computer monitors or TV set up that he would either discard back into the rubble or set aside for when they relocated their home.

It was then that he heard soft footsteps that most wouldn't notice and he looked up over the rim of his glasses to see Leonardo trot through the entrance of their home.

"Leo!" he said enthusiastically, cradling a handful of wires and circuits.

He was about to make a crack about the quiet that he had been dealing with until he saw the look on his brother's face. His gray eyes were icy and his mouth was set in a tight line as he approached his younger brother.

"What happened? Is it the Foot?" he kept his voice soft as he dumped the wires to the ground and straightened up.

Leo shook his head, "No, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'll get Raph, you wake Mikey. You all need to see this."

Donatello was taken aback, "What about Splinter?"

Leo's expression softened slightly, "He's stabilized for now. Hopefully, this won't take more than just a few minutes anyway."

The second turtle nodded slowly and walked over to where Mikey was sleeping soundly, a reasonably sized drip of drool spilling from the corner of his mouth. With a flash of satisfaction Donnie gripped the top of the hammock and shook it back and forth, causing the snoozing turtle to swing into the wall.

"OW! Bro!" Mikey woke suddenly and fell gracefully to the ground, his plastron cracking against the floor.

Donatello gave a satisfied grin, "Rise and shine Michelangelo."

The youngest turtle groaned and rolled up into a crouch before standing to stretch his arms above his head.

"Don bro...not cool. What's the deal with the waking and such?" he asked before giving off a massive yawn.

The older brother rolled his eyes and put a finger to his lips.

"Shut it..." he hissed, "Leo needs to show us something important."

At this the orange masked turtle's hurt expression vanished and was replaced with the usual sneaky curiosity. Within a few moments three of the four turtles were gathered outside of the lair. Unfortunately, Mikey was rapidly becoming bored at having to wait for their leader and had taken to tapping his nun-chucks on the wall while humming 'Ice Ice Baby'. An antic that was quickly becoming old with Donnie and Raph.

"What is Leo doin'? He's the one that wanted us out here..." the largest of the three turtles growled, fingering the pommel of his sai.

Don simply shrugged in response, as he was concentrating on not hitting Michelangelo upside the head with his staff.

It was then, as if he had heard his brothers, Leo came from the lair. His face was still stony and his brothers saw this, quieting them.

"Alright fearless leader, what is it that ya wanted to show us?" Raph grumbled, leaning forward off the sewer wall.

Leo flashed a glance at the red banded turtle before turning to Donatello.

"Do you have your first aid kit?"

Donnie blinked in surprise, his glasses flashing in the dim light.

"I always keep a spare with me...why?"

Leonardo nodded, "I think we may need it, come on hurry."

At this, the leader started forward at a jog, his brothers flashing a glance behind him as they kept up.

For a good few minutes the four turtles made their way into the older part of the sewer system, sometimes having to bend over double in order to fit through some of the openings. The light started to fade out into a dim twilight that was only pierced by light coming from the occasional sewer grate. It got to the point that Raphael was about to stop and demand answers when Leo held up a fist to halt his brothers.

"What in the hell is going on Leo!" Raph hissed, his eyes glinting in the semipermeable darkness.

The blue banded turtle held up a finger to indicate silence but pointed up ahead to where the sewer ended in a large metal grate. The grate allowed the water to flow forward to a long plunge down into the true underbelly of New York. The group walked forward behind Leo who crouched low around a corner and pointed once more to the grate.

At first Donie, Mikey, and Raph couldn't tell what Leo was trying to show them but quickly their eyes adjusted and they saw the small shape curled up against the grate on the driest piece of concrete that it seemed to have been able to find.

"Is it a human?" Mikey was the first to ask in a hushed whisper, his blue eyes wide.

Leo nodded, "I think they've been lost down here but for a long time...I'm not even sure if they're..." he said trailed off, not wanting to assume the worst.

"Great...blue and bold goes and finds us another human to take care of." Raph growled and half turned to leave, his interest disappearing immediately.

A stern hand reached out and stopped Raph by grabbing the rim of his shell.

"Raph, we just saved all of New York and you're going to walk out on one person who could be dying." Leo frowned.

The bigger turtle scowled even more, "That's jus' it. We jus' saved New York City! One human in a bunch ain't gunna change much." he retorted, shrugging his shell out of his brother's grip.

Leo was about to grumble back a reply when a hiss from Donnie caught both his and Raph's attention.

"Hey...guys! Before you get into a holier-than-thou fight and all that, can we deal with the fact that this human is moving." the purple banded turtle pointed around the corner.

It was true, the person had uncurled from their fetal position and had tried to pull themselves forward, only to slump to the grimy concrete face first.

"That, can't be good..." Mikey muttered, standing along with his brothers from their crouched positions at the corner.

Without a word the four somewhat reluctant turtles slunk around the corner and across the murky channel of water, Raph hesitating in the back. Donatello was the first to approach and his first thoughts weren't happy ones.

Immediately, the first thing that struck the turtle was the smell. Of course being in a sewer would stink most of the time but this was more than just the normal smell of garbage or sulfur. It was the coppery tang of blood mixed with the sour of sickness.

Cautiously, Donny removed his bo staff and prodded the human to see if it was conscious at all. This received a low, muffled groan but nothing else. No movement, no words, not even an attempt to protect themselves.

"Donnie, what do think?" Leo asked, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder as he put his staff away.

The bespectacled turtle frowned, "Nothing good. I think they've been down here for a few days now and they're hurt...badly." he answered, setting his brothers into a series of murmurs and whispers.

Donnie turned back and approached the human so that he could inspect what sort of damage had been done. He gently used a digit to pull back the tangled mass of hair that was covering the human's face before gently turning them onto their left side. It was then that he realized that the human in front of him was a young woman.

She seemed to be in her late teens, possibly older since it was hard to tell by the blood, hair, and grim that covered her. He winced as he saw that some of the blood was a lot fresher and was darkest around the woman's legs and back.

"Jeeze...did she put 'erself into a car compactor?" Raph growled from behind Leo, his eyes narrowing at the bloody sight.

Donnie shook his head in shock, "It looks like her legs are partially crushed along with some trauma to her back. I don't even see how she got herself down here...or how she's still alive."

The turtles fell into a stunned silence as Donatello brought out a small metal tin that had a medical cross on the front. Delicately, he turned the young woman onto her back, earning another pained sound from her.

"Careful..." the purple banded turtle heard one of his brothers mutter, though he couldn't quite tell which.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes, out of the four of them he was the one with the most amount of medical expertise...and they were telling _him_ to be careful. Ignoring the rising annoyance of the backseat doctoring and the build up of apprehension as he continued to see more and more blood.

Donnie gently put the tips of his fingers against the girl's neck and concentrated on getting a pulse. He couldn't feel anything at first but slowly he felt the pressure of an slow, dull heart beat.

"She's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her somewhere safe before I can do anything to help her. If not then she's going to die." he finally said, turning to answer the expectant looks of his brothers.

There were a few moments in which nobody really wanted to say what was on everybody's mind. At least until Mikey opened his mouth...

"What about Splinter?"

At this Donny and Leo cringed at the same time and shared a glance, they knew that if they were to bring back a human, hurt or not, Master Splinter would not be happy. Especially after all that had happened so far over the past few days. There were several seconds of silence, precious seconds that Donatello knew could be used to help save this girl's life.

"What if we patch her up at the lair and then bring her to a hospital or call an ambulance once she's well enough to go? Master Splinter will still be resting for a few more days." Leo finally said, glancing to Mikey and Raph.

Both nodded, though the red banded turtle was more reluctant and he refused to glance at the girl. Donnie nodded resolutely before carefully maneuvering the girl so that he could pick her up. Gently he supported the girl's shoulders and waist and then picked her up in a brides carry.

The girl's eyes shot open as Donnie hoisted her up and a loud yell escaped from her lips, echoing through the tunnel. This made the turtles almost jump out of their shells and fall back into the channel of filthy water. For a brief second the girls pain glazed eyes locked onto Donatello's before she fell unconscious once more. Her head lolled to the side uselessly leaving a smear of dirt and blood on the turtle's plastron.

Leo, Mikey, and Raph all gazed at Donatello with wide stares, their hands at the ready to whip out their weapons. The purple clad turtle himself was speechless and very uncomfortable as he stared down at the girl, fearing another violent outburst.

"Let's just get to the lair..." he muttered and turned to leave.

* * *

It only took a few minutes before they four turtles and their unconscious guest arrived back. Since Splinter was occupying the only viable bed in the other room Donnie made due with an old sheet of plywood set up on four cinder blocks. The most comfortable aspect of the whole thing was a small pillow that the turtle had scrounged up from somewhere.

Leo, Raph, and Mikey stepped back as Donny began to patch the girl up. Each flashing apprehensive looks to each other as the minutes ticked by. Soon the minutes turned into hours and the group began to disperse and go about their own task once more, leaving Donnie to finish. Mikey replaced Raph at Splinter's bedside and Leo began the task of collecting his own belongings.

Raphael decided to keep watch over Donatello from afar so that he didn't over work himself as he always tended to do when he set himself to a task. The hours continued to creep by until almost one o'clock in the morning did the red clad turtle put a heavy hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Don, you gotta get some sleep bro." he growled softly, tiredness dragging at his own limbs.

The younger turtle sighed and sat back on his heels as he stared dazed at the still unconscious girl that lay on the platform before him. After a more in depth examination he had come to the unfortunate discovery that both the girl's legs had been broken in two separate places. She had bad internal bleeding along with most likely a damaged spine and probably a concussion. Not to mention the severe lacerations, bruises, and gashes that covered the rest of her.

Donnie had done everything in his power to bind, stitch, clean, and bandage the girl's wounds without having to do surgery and violate the girl's decency. But he doubted that it would be enough especially with the internal and spinal injuries. The girl would need a blood transfusion soon if she didn't stay incredibly still. He didn't want to move her either, to do so could worsen her injuries.

Raph gave his brother one last slap on the shoulder before heading to his own sleeping are in another room. The younger turtle sighed heavily and began to pack up the remaining medical supplies that he had. He slowly stood up, his joints popping for having been in one position for so long. He closed up his kit and put it away before grabbing one of last blankets that they had that wasn't being used.

Carefully he draped it over the girl before turning to leave. That was when something caught Donatello eye that he hadn't seen when he had been dealing with the wounds. He bent down to examine a dark patch just above the girl's collar bone on her neck.

"I need sleep..." he grumbled as he removed his glasses and rubbed his aching eyes, not evening trying to figure out what his tired mind was seeing.

He turned and went over to his own sleeping mat and nearly fell onto the thin cot. He placed his glasses on the ground before rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.

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**Reviews are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2: Rescued?

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Thank you so much for the positive feedback. I got some questions as to if this story will be romance. Most likely it won't be just cause I'm not the best at writing romance and cause a human/turtle love story isn't my thing. Just a personal opinion. But either way thanks so much! God bless - Rin**

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Chapter 2: Rescued?

Avery saw roiling colors pass in front of her vision like looking through a very psychedelic lava lamp. The same vision that she had been having what felt like days. She vaguely remembered moving but not of her own will.

The girl felt a spike of pain rip through her spine as she was jolted upwards, the pure pain rocking Avery out of her limbo. Momentarily her eyes shot open and an involuntary yell tore out of her throat.

Despite the dim light of where she was, everything seemed bright and blinding to the girl. She looked upwards and saw the reason for her sudden movement. Hazel eyes locked onto a pair of glasses and realized that some one had picked her up.

Avery didn't have time to process who she was looking at though as her vision dimmed once more to blobs of color and then finally to black.

* * *

Dreams faded in and out of existence along with strange faces and a white light at some point or another. Avery had no sense of time, she could have been in this state for a few minutes or hours upon hours. All she knew was that she was floating almost away from her body. She sank down into the dreams until even they faded and the floating feeling vanished.

It was strange as she felt a tingling start in her chest and spread down to her legs. She felt her chest tighten and a rush of glorious oxygen entered her lungs. All at once white flashed in her vision and slowly Avery felt her senses return. Her whole body hurt, like every nerve was on fire and her eye lids felt like they were made of lead.

As if she had cotton in her ears sounds slowly made their way through in muffled spurts that made her head pound. She strained slightly and her eyes slowly opened, allowing dim light to pierce her eyeballs. Even the watery brightness made her shut her eyes once again, praying that this agony would end once more. Slowly the sounds faded and the brightness went away and was replaced by the darkness of rest that she gratefully excepted.

Again, Avery's senses returned after an untold amount of time. Her senses didn't return as intensely as before. She slowly opened her eyes and the light that had hurt them before was nonexistent and it was pleasantly quiet. She blinked once, twice, and then three times to try and clear the cloudiness of her vision.

The first thing that she was able to recognize was the pattern of bricks that were part of the ceiling. They were gray and old, seeming to be covered in either dust or grime. The girl wanted to roll over as she realized that whatever she was laying on was hard and flat, making her joints stiffer than they already were.

Unfortunately, even the idea of moving sent shivers of pain down Avery's spine and she immediately dismissed the idea, knowing fully that she probably shouldn't be alive...but somehow was. Carefully she tried to turn her head, wincing as the muscles protested even to that.

Immediately, she regretted the decision as she saw where she was, or the fact that she _didn't _know where she was. The last thing that Avery remembered was stumbling away from the rubble that had nearly crushed her and had fallen into an unfinished man hole. From there it was a blur of pain and dragging herself somewhere safe. The room seemed to be half demolished, or at least in the middle of being reconstructed.

Large hunks of concrete were strewn about on the other side of the room where a gaping hole in the wall seemed to be messily patched up with planks of wood. There seemed to be another room to the left that was obscured by a tattered piece of cloth as well as a smaller up raised area just in the corner of Avery's vision. The girl knew that this was not where she had passed out. It was definitely less than fine living but it was obvious that someone lived here.

That's when the fuzzy memory of the amber eyes behind flashing glasses rose to the surface of her still dulled mind. Her rescuer...

He or she must have moved Avery to...where ever she was now and had somehow taken care of her. She felt a mixture of gratefulness and anxiety flash through her at the thought. She was amazed that she was still alive but who exactly was it that saved her? It seemed very dark and the girl assumed that her rescuer was asleep, at least until she saw something shift in the darkness.

The girl felt herself stiffen as a shadowy shape shifted in the corner in some sort of hammock. She saw an arm flop over the side and hung only a few inches from the ground and couldn't help but gasp. Instead of a normal hand the dark shape only had three thick fingers that twitched slightly as their owner slept. Heavy snores humming through the air.

With the sudden intake of air from the gasp Avery's lungs hitched and sent her into a burst of painful coughs. She had no control as the loud coughs echoed through the dwelling and at first she was terrified that whoever was in the room would wake. Every jolt sent waves of pain through her and she felt tears form in her eyes and the fear of the person was replaced by fear that the pain would not stop.

There was a flash of light and the sound of heavy footsteps as Avery struggled to stop coughing as she tasted blood in her mouth. Voices whispered and something touched the back of Avery's head. Drips of cool water splashed into Avery's throat and she gratefully swallowed the life giving water to cool her burning chest and wash away the metallic taste of blood. Finally, the coughs subsided and she laid back in a daze. Hushed voices continued to circle above her head and she realized there was more than one person now.

"She's awake!" she heard one voice clearly now, coming somewhere from her left.

Avery blinked blearily as the water was taken back, trying to clear the tears from her vision as the light from a flashlight blinked in her face. She panted as she tried not to panic at the overwhelming amount of things that were now suddenly happening. A digit pressed against her neck to take her pulse as two more voices joined in the indistinguishably murmurs over head.

With one last series of blinks to try and make her eyes adjust to the bright flashlight over head one face came into focus. It was the same face that she had seen when she had been jolted out of unconsciousness by her pain earlier.

The bright amber eyes that flicked back and forth behind a thick pair of glasses. Though the eyes were attached to something much less friendly looking.

Avery suddenly had the urge to run as she realized why whoever her savior was had only three fingers. She watched as the fingers led up to a green scaly arm that was heavily muscled and looked like it could easily snap Avery in half. She saw the rim and plastron of a shell that confirmed what she was seeing...despite the dim thought that she could possibly be hallucinating.

The being that was standing over her was a large, two-legged, talking turtle.

* * *

Donnie looked down in surprise and the girl blinked blearily past the flashlight that he was shining down into her face. At first the dark hazel eyes seemed confused, trying to figure out exactly what she was looking at. They suddenly widened though as her eyes roamed the purple clad turtle's face. He could see fear and shock blossom across her bruised face

Behind him he could tell that Raph, Leo, and Mikey had come in at the disturbance thoroughly disgruntled at the interruption to their sleep.

"She's awake!" Mikey grumbled, stifling a large yawn as he was unexpectedly woken again for the second time in two days.

Donatello nodded taking his hand away from her neck, pleasantly surprised at the increase in her pulse. She had gone from nearly dead to...well, at least awake in the span of twenty-four hours. That wasn't the best thing yes, but it was better than the other outcome that the turtle had thought of.

The girl's eyes were still flitting back and forth to each of the four brothers, her pale face turning a slight gray color.

"Dude, are humans supposed to turn that color?" Mikey whispered loudly, not really concealing the question at all.

The three other turtles shared a glance, "She needs to calm down..." Donnie muttered, fearing that the girl could possibly go into shock.

Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo backed up slightly as the girl shut her eyes and began muttered to herself. Donatello could heard the whimpers and couldn't help but feel slightly bad. Of course this human was going to be afraid finding herself hurt in an unknown place, surrounded by strange beings whom she didn't know the intentions of.

Donnie remembered how he felt back in the glass case, his blood slowly being drained as scientists goggled at him from behind masks. He shook away the memory and focused on trying to calm the panicking human down.

"Uh...miss?"

The girl's muttering came to a halt and her eyes shot open once more, seeming to be riveted to the ceiling. Donnie was slightly at a loss as the girl refused to look over at him. The silence stretched on and on until finally a sigh came from behind.

"Great..." Raph growled, stood up and began walking away.

"...things keep gettin' better." Leo rolled his eyes at his brother's coldness.

The girl blinked once and shakily turned her head, obviously still in pain. She at first didn't seem to look at anything in particular but slowly her gaze landed on the closest turtle to her, Donatello. For several seconds she stared and the purple clad turtle felt extremely uncomfortable under the wide-eyed gaze.

"W...what..." the sound was more of croak than an actual word but at least it broke the mounting silence.

The three turtles lined themselves along the edge of the makeshift bed and shared a glance as they tried to perhaps answer some of the many questions that were running through this human's mind.

"Miss...I'm sorry if we startled you." Leo started out, drawing the girl's attention.

The look that she gave the blue banded turtle indicated that she was definitely more than just startled and her eyes narrowed.

"We found you in the sewer and brought you here to patch you up enough to send you back to a more adequate hospital. Unfortunately, you were injured more than we thought." Donnie said softly and as if on que the girl winced once more as she looked back over to him.

The three brothers shared another glance, at a loss for what to do since the girl seemed almost inconsolable. She simply furrowed her brow in pain again and closed her eyes.

"I think it would be best to leave..." Leo muttered and stood up, stifling a yawn so that his brothers couldn't see how exhausted he really was, being woken up at two in the morning was not supposed to be on his to do list.

Mikey followed suit along with Donnie who was also extremely tired and wanted more than anything to fall into his bed and sleep. They all stood and were turning to leave when a low sound made them halt.

"Thank...you..."

The rough whisper barely made it to the turtle's ears but it made them turn slightly to see that the girl had opened her eyes once more and was watching them leave. The turtles turned to face the human and each gave a nod each with a small smile before leaving.

* * *

Avery watched the strange creatures leave without a sound. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and she tried to take a deep breath. This action was met with another flash of pain but luckily it didn't start a second bout of coughing. The girl was still half convinced she was dreaming through a pain rattled mind.

She couldn't help but feel slightly better though, at least she knew that her rescuers didn't want to harm her. Or at least three of them didn't...the fourth one that Avery had only gotten a brief glimpse of before he left and he didn't seem as friendly.

A sudden surge of exhaustion flowed through Avery and she felt her already heavy eyelids droop. She didn't want to sleep though...she wanted to somehow get out of this place and just go home. She wasn't one who handled stress well, especially if it was out of the ordinary. A million different scenarios ran through the girl's mind as her eyes finally closed.

Most of which were probably unwarranted worries that had no foundation but either way these worries sprang to life as she fell asleep. Becoming dreams that could have been left undreamed.

Avery wasn't sure for how long she slept but it seemed to be for quite a while, at least another full day. She was starting to feel slightly better though every part of her still hurt unbearably when she even tried to move. Every so often she could taste blood too...and this is what concerned her the most about her condition.

Obviously, these turtle things were trying to help her but if she was as injured as she thought she needed expert medical help. Unfortunately though, there was no way for her to get to that by herself. Avery had heard the purple turtle say that they wanted to wait until she was 'patched up enough' but how long would that take?

Avery had been living on her own for about a year now so no one would really notice her disappearance right away. She had consequently taken a two weeks off from work so that was the most amount of time that Avery had before someone noticed that she was missing. If that didn't make her rescuers let her go, her mom was supposed to come up from Virginia in another month and she doubted that she was going to miss her not being home.

It was then that there was the sound of something or someone stirring. Avery expected to see one of the turtles come through the doorway. The girl took a deep breath and prepared herself for the sight and turned to look. In what happened next Avery was just glad that she had somewhat prepared herself. If she hadn't then she probably would have screamed.

Instead of the expected masked, walking, talking turtle Avery's eyes bugged out as something extremely furry paced through the door. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she saw the large black eyes immediately lock onto her, eyes that belong to a huge rat.


	3. Chapter 3: Icebreakers

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Again, thanks for all the reviews guys! It's the fuel that keeps me going :) Hope you like this chapter and don't worry things are going to start to get exciting! Keep the reviews coming and Godbless!**

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Chapter 3: Icebreakers

Leonardo knew something was wrong as soon as he woke up. It wasn't by anything he heard or saw but it was just an instinctual feeling as his eyes opened. It was normally quiet in the mornings since he was always the first up, but this silence pressed in on the turtle's ears and made him want to make a noise.

Slowly, he sat up and peered around the room that he shared with his brothers. Everything seemed to be normal...or as normal as it got with their family.

Mikey had hung his hammock in the corner and was muttering something to himself in his sleep. Raph had his shell to Leo but seemed to be asleep by the chainsaw-like noises coming from him. Donnie was on his back on the far side, arms and legs spread eagle and it didn't seem like he would soon awake for anything.

Leonardo shifted and stood silently, noiselessly stepping from the room to find the reason for his uneasy feeling. He was about to got out into the main part of the lair when he heard a noise, actually several different noises.

The turtle froze at the light _tink_ of what sounded like china and a soft voice speaking from behind the curtain that divided the main area from the bedroom. Immediately, the turtle's thoughts went to Master Splinter and he felt his blood run cold. The human was in the next room...and so was he.

"Donnie!" the blue masked turtle hissed as he turned to face the bedroom once more, coming over to his brother's side.

The still sleeping turtle muttered something in his sleep and lazily rolled over, his mask askew on his face. Leonardo rolled his eyes and squatted down next to his younger brother.

"Don!" he hissed once more causing the purple masked turtle's eyes to shoot open and he sat up suddenly.

"Wha...who..." Donatello mumbled, half asleep as Leo clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!" Leo motioned for Donnie to be quiet after removing his hand and stood, pointing to the doorway.

The younger turtle shook the remaining dregs of sleep away and followed his leader out of the room while adjusting his mask. At first he seemed fairly confused as to why Leo had woken him up until his brother motioned to the small noises in the next room.

Leo mouthed a single word and Donatello thought his heart might have stopped.

"Splinter." he breathed, feeling his insides grow cold as the soft voice fell silent for a moment in the other room.

The clink of china continued though as the two turtles crouched just out of view of the doorway, their eyes reflecting the same fearful shock that they each felt. Master Splinter had obviously recovered faster than they had anticipated and, had unfortunately found their new guest.

"We need to hear what he's saying and if that girl is saying anything in return." Donnie finally whispered, crouching by the covered doorway before pressing his head against the frame.

Leo copied on the opposite side, both their eyes narrowed as they concentrated on trying to make out what was being said.

* * *

Avery looked on still slightly in shock as her new visitor continued to chat quietly next to her while sipping tea out of a chipped cup.

At first the rat, who had introduced himself as Splinter, was just as surprised to see Avery as she was to see him. She had tried her hardest not to simply ignore her current state and run but soon the rat made it clear he wasn't planning on hurting her. She had tried to talk and answer the questions that he asked but her voice was still extremely rough, from both lack of use and her injuries.

Splinter had seen this and he had disappeared to the small space he had come from.

"I see that my sons have taken their guardian roles on a little too well..." she heard the rat mutter as he returned with a wooden tray.

Avery couldn't help but feel relief as she saw that the tray was laden with a some tea and bread.

_'Food!'_ she thought to herself and glanced at Splinter who gave a kind smile.

From then on the rat had graciously given Avery some cooled tea and even small pieces of bread, seeming aware that the girl could barely move. Every so often he would either just state something or ask a small question, most of which Avery could answer with a simple nod. At least until after a long bout of silence the rat put the cup he was holding down and turned to fully face Avery.

"How was it that you were put into this condition my child?" Splinter asked, his liquid eyes narrowing but more in curiosity than suspicion.

Avery took a breath, careful not to over expand her aching chest.

"Building collapsed..." she whispered, her croaky voice cracking slightly.

Splinter blinked in surprise, "What building?" he asked quickly.

The girl frowned slightly, not exactly sure of what building it had been. It had obviously been one of the taller skyscrapers but it was New York City. There tended to be quite a few of those.

She slowly shrugged, wincing as a flash of pain went down her spine, "Some skyscraper or tower."

Splinter's ears flicked back for a moment in anger before sighing and pouring more tea into his cup as well as two others ones. Avery thought it strange but didn't question it too much, she was talking to a giant rat so it was sort of the least of her worries.

"What is your name young one?" the rat asked once more, his composure back as soon as it had vanished.

Avery took another breath, "Avery..."

The rat nodded, "That is a good name, Avery. Mean's wisdom I believe..." he said softly and the girl blinked in surprise.

"I am truly sorry that you are in this predicament Avery. I do hope that I and my sons can help you in anyway..." he continued, setting down his cup and placing his hands on his folded legs. The girl was about to thank him when the rat held up a single digit and his left ear flicked back.

"Isn't that right Leonardo...Donatello?"

Avery watched in shock as after a full thirty seconds of silence the fabric covering the far doorway rustled and two of the turtle creatures came through, guiltily looks crossing their features as they slowly approached Splinter and the girl. Avery watched as the rat gestured for the two turtles to sit and they did so silently.

She realized now why Splinter had poured two extra cups of tea and she felt amazement wash through her.

_'He could hear them that whole time!?'_

Avery felt suddenly very uncomfortable just lying there on her back as Splinter and the two turtles, (she had't figures out who was Leonardo and who was Donatello yet) sort of just watched her. After a minute the two turtles took the remaining tea cups and sipped quietly in silence.

The silence got to a point where Avery considered falling back asleep just to stop the awkwardness that she was feeling.

"Is there something you wanted my sons? Or did you simply want to practice your ninja eavesdropping?" Splinter finally broke the silence, a slight hint of humor lacing his voice though his face stayed serious as he turned to the two.

The blue turtle seemed to wince at this statement and the purple clad turtle glanced away.

"Sorry, sensei...we just weren't sure how you were going to react to our...uh guest." he said quietly and snuck a glance at Avery.

It was then that she started to come to the realization that she wasn't exactly the most welcome guest and had dropped in without permission. Though, in her defense she hadn't asked to be rescued.

This made her feel even more uncomfortable as she simply laid there and continued to look and listen.

Splinter sighed and shook his head, "Do not worry, I am not upset by young Avery here. I am, however upset that you tried to keep it from me." he glanced at the blue banded turtle.

"Especially you Leonardo."

Avery saw embarrassment flash across the Leonardo's face and she suddenly felt bad that her being there was getting him into trouble with Splinter. But the moment passed relatively quickly this time and the tense atmosphere dissipated.

"So your name is Avery?" Donatello spoke this time glancing over at the girl, trying to flash a friendly smile.

Avery tried to return it but she figured that it came out more like grimace, all she wanted at this moment was to be back where she belonged. No more weird creatures or injuries, just her sleeping, getting some food, and taking care of her cat.

_'Maybe I can make myself pass out again...' _The thought passed through the young woman's mind but she dismissed it. These 'beings' were trying to help her, there was no reason for her to freak out to the point of hysterics. At least not yet...

She nodded slowly in answer.

"And you live in New York?"

The girl nodded once more, her smile becoming slightly more genuine as she tried to calm her thoughts and just accept that this was indeed happening to her, whether or not she wanted it to.

The exchange of simple questions continued for a little while longer until Avery started to grow tired of being questioned. She knew that all the questions that the turtles and the one question here and there from Splinter were harmless, but all the same it felt like she was a bug under a microscope. There was a small break in the conversation in which Avery took the chance to clear her throat.

"What about you?" she croaked out, hating how her voice sounded, "Who are you?"

Leonardo and Donatello looked at each other and the blue turtle opened his mouth to respond when a deeper voice interrupted.

"That's a big question with a long story..."

All eyes turned to look at the doorway which the two turtles had first come through. The fabric was pushed aside and the two remaining turtles whom Avery didn't know stood there with slightly different expressions. The one that had spoke, a red banded turtle that seemed to be largest (and scariest) out of the four was leaning back against the wall with a moody and slightly irritated expression. The second orange banded turtle was looking on with a more bemused expression that displayed curiosity if anything else.

Avery glanced back up to the red banded turtle who looked right back, almost defiantly challenging her presence in his home. Warily, the girl glanced away, feeling even more unwelcome than she had been a few minutes earlier.

"And...one that may be told at a later time." Splinter interjected, flashing a glance at the new arrivals before looking back to Avery.

The girl nodded in response, grateful for the change in conversation and the chance to close her eyes. She heard shuffling and she assumed that the turtles and rat had gotten up to leave. Avery couldn't deny that she extremely curious with what and who these creatures were...but the more dominant feeling was still of confusion and fear. It felt like she was prisoner almost, though she knew that these turtles didn't seem to want her there anymore than she wanted to be there. Especially, the red banded turtle whose name Avery didn't know...

She figured though that the faster she healed the faster she could go home...and that it would be for the best.

* * *

The woman's eyes flashed open as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. As if by an unspoken command the few black clad men that had been gather near her melted into the shadows as the door was thrown open, making the woman jump to her feet from her kneeling position.

Dark eyes widened in shock though and the woman's stony composure evaporated as a large armor coated figure stumbled into the dark room. The silver armor was damaged t heavily and clanked with every step.

"Sensi!" she exclaimed and jumped forward to help.

Her hand was only a few inches away from the silver figure as he raised a hand, halting her assistance.

"Matte..." it growled, "Kuuki yome!"

At these words a hurt look crossed the woman's face but it quickly passed as the suit of armor stood, its joints creaking slightly.

"What has happened since I have been gone?" a low voice growled from the suit, turning to fully face the woman.

She bowed at the waist before answering this time, her eyes not wanting to meet the figure before her.

"The remaining men have regrouped and are currently searching for a more stable base of operations than this one. Sacks has gone to cover up the reason for his buildings collapse and regroup his belongings." she said softly.

The man in the armor gave a small growling huff of what seemed like annoyance though it was impossible to tell for sure.

"Tell him to return here as soon as he is finished, I have some things that I must discuss with him."

The woman bowed once more, this time staying in her bent position as a question came from her lips before she could stop it.

"What of the mutagen...father?"

The figure had half turned to leave but froze at these words, the air so still it seemed almost permeable.

"Kuuki yume." he almost snarled, making the woman bow lower.

And with that he left the room in a flurry of clangs and hollow footsteps. Leaving the woman standing there...still bowing.

* * *

**(In Japanses- "Matte": Wait "Kuuki yome": Know your place.)**


	4. Chapter 4: Change of Plans

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Yay chapter 4! So glad you guys are liking this :) Hope I can keep 'em coming! Reviews are much appreciated and Godbless!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Change of Plans

Avery wanted to scream but knew that doing so would irritate her already hurting body and would probably concern her hosts more than they already were. Inside though the girl wanted so much to get up and have the pain that she was feeling go away. She also wanted this constant feeling of being watched to go away to.

For the past three days or so Avery had mostly been trying to sleep or at least fake sleep so that the strange turtles and rat would leave her be. Though it wasn't that hard, they didn't seem too keen on interaction either. She couldn't avoid them constantly since they would periodically bring her water, food, and the occasional pain medication but she was still uneasy with her whole situation.

It also bothered Avery that on a regular basis she would have some sort of coughing fit and she would taste blood in her mouth. The fits weren't as bad as the one she had undergone when she had first arrived but they certainly weren't getting better as the days progressed. She refused to say anything though as it had become apparent that she was just an additional thing to take care of for the turtles.

They may have been her saviors and was she was grateful that they saved her, but she was far from getting comfortable with them taking care of her.

When she was sure they weren't looking Avery would watch as the strange creatures went about their day trying to clean up what seemed to be the remains of their home. The one that was called Donatello seemed to spend most of his time recovering bits and pieces of machines and computers that were scattered about the space, most of the time dumping what ever he found into a large pile of bent metal and unusable wires.

Leonardo didn't come through the main room as often but when he did he always glanced at Avery who would promptly try not to seem awake. She wasn't sure if her ruse truly worked but it at least made her feel better. The blue banded turtle always seemed to be thinking though, and Avery would sometimes see him sitting cross-legged in the next room as if in meditation.

The other two turtles seemed to be almost opposites of each other when it came to acknowledging Avery.

The girl had heard the one with the orange bandanna called Mikey once and had assumed that it was short for something, though she wasn't exactly sure for what. He seemed younger than the others by the way that he seemed intensely curious about Avery. He almost always was trying to get her to talk, though he didn't have any trouble keeping up a one sided conversation. Only a day ago he had knelt by Avery and had tried to get her to have a conversation on what her favorite pizza was. She had been extremely surprised at his sudden interest in her since up until that point she had been left mostly to herself. The contact didn't last very long though as Donatello had shooed Mikey away, telling him to let her sleep.

The last turtle seemed to have the exactly opposite way of thinking. Since the day that Avery had woken up she had only seen the red banded turtle twice. He never looked at the girl, never tried to talk to her, and didn't seem able to stay in the same room for more than a minute or so. Avery had come to the conclusion that he simply didn't like her, whether that was because she was technically intruding on his home or because she was a human Avery wasn't sure. But she felt that she didn't particularly like the situation any more than he did.

As for the pain meds, Avery was wary the first time that Donatello had given her one. But when they proved to help she gratefully excepted them. They were only effective to a point and made it easier to sleep but Donatello had told her briefly that they were highly potent and couldn't be taken more than twice a day. That wasn't always enough and Avery would have to deal with burning aches in her back and chest. Another big concern of hers was that despite the fact that her legs were still broken she couldn't really feel them all that well.

At first she just attributed that to not moving them in quite a while and the fact that she was lying on a flat board that was not the best for circulation. But it still weighed heavily on the girl's mind and she prayed that she could get to a legitimate hospital soon.

At the moment all of her hosts had left to follow their master out, for what Avery wasn't sure since she wasn't privy to that information. She was thankful however for the respite and the silence it allowed her. It gave her time to think and, even better, time to peacefully sleep. Even at the thought her eye lids started to droop and Avery felt sleep start to over come her and gratefully traded it for the ache that had started up once more.

* * *

The four turtles faced each other, their weapons drawn and eyes narrowed as they stood at the ready. Master Splinter paced back and forth to the left with his hands clasped behind his back as he glanced between his statue still sons. He came to a halt and raised a hand, making everyone tense.

"Hajime!" he said sharply with a flick of his tail.

The four turtles lept forward and their weapons met with a clash. Donatello's staff met Leonardo's katana's as Raphael ducked the swinging blows of Michelangelo's nunchuks. After many days of not training and practicing due to recovery and the unforeseen arrival of their guest, Master Splinter had wanted the turtles to get back into the habit of training as soon as possible. And of course their first exercise was sparring of course.

There was a loud clang as Donnie pushed Leo back against the wall, making him drop one of his blades. He ducked as he brother took a swing at his head but his staff hit the brick instead. The blue banded turtle rolled up into a crouch before taking his remaining sword and going on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Mikey was trying not to panic as Raph charged forward, his sai drawn and at the ready. The orange clad turtle ducked and lept to the side with a yell while swinging his nunchuck. This continued for a few minutes until Mikey was able to catch one of Raphael's ankles and make him trip. He put all his strength into the blow which sent the bigger turtle spinning to the ground, his shell cracking against the cement.

There was a similar crack as Donatello swung and missed, his staff hitting the floor as Leo flipped passed him, his sword swishing through the air to come to a halt only a few inches from the purple clad turtle's shoulder.

"Yame!" Splinter said sharply, making his sons freeze for a moment before going to line up in front of their master.

Raph grumbled some curses under his breath as Mikey offered his brother a hand, which promptly got swatted away. The four turtles lined up and knelt, looking up at Splinter, his dark eyes darting from one to another.

"Well done my sons." he began, clasping his hands behind his back and began pacing in front of the brothers.

"You fought well even after all that has happened, though you still need to work on many things." the rat's tone changed as he looked to Donnie on the end.

"Donatello. You fight with speed and determination but you must keep your actions under control, the staff is an extension of yourself. Not a baseball bat." the purple turtle nodded, dipping his head.

"Raphael, you have much strength but you need to know when to use it and how much. Your sai are not pitch forks, they can be used in more than one way." Raph let out a breath, but nodded slowly.

He was obviously less than pleased about the fight's outcome.

"Michelangelo, you fear to much. You must trust in your abilities and apply them accordingly. That said my son, well done on your victory." the orange banded turtle grinned to himself as his master moved on, earning him a death glare from Raphael.

"Leonardo, you handled yourself well and evaded even though you were nearly bested..."

"Yeah...'course mister perfect..." Raph muttered, earning an elbow from Donnie.

Splinter's ears flicked backwards but he pretended as if he didn't hear the commotion as he continued to address the blue banded turtle.

"Even so...you must learn to do whatever it takes to earn your victory. Do not hesitate when the time comes my son."

Leo dipped his head, "Yes...sensei."

There were a few moments of silence in which Splinter continued to observe his sons before taking a deep breath. Even now he could tell that they were still exhausted. Not just physically but mentally as well, it showed in their eyes. The rat knew that he was their master but he was also their father...

"That will be all for today my sons. We will continue on tomorrow." he said, making all the turtle's heads snap to attention in surprise.

"Really master?" Mikey piped up.

Splinter couldn't help but smirk to himself, "Yes...unless you wish to continue on with your katas then..."

Immediately, three other hands clamped over the orange banded turtle's mouth, causing him to almost fall backwards.

"I think we could all use the rest sensei!" Donnie interjected, flashing a glance at his younger brother.

And, before their master had a chance to change his mind the four turtles had stood, bowed, and then turned to jog back to the lair.

"Nice goin' dim wit, you almost made us go back to doing kata." Raph gave Mikey a playful smack, though he coupled it with a rare smile.

Michelangelo grinned back, "Well maybe if you had actually blocked my nunchucks then maybe you wouldn't have to practice more bro."

"That was a lucky shot an' you know it, Mikey!" Raph shot back as they turned the corner.

With a shove of his large shoulder, the red banded turtle pushed shoved Mikey. The momentum of them running plus the shove made the orange banded turtle skid and fall into the channel of water just outside the hidden entrance to their lair. Donatello and Raph broke into hysterical chuckles as Mikey sat in the mucky water, his blue eyes glaring daggers at his brother. Leo tried not to laugh but allowed himself a smile at his brother's expense. As much as he knew that Mikey was picked on the most he wasn't always innocent.

"Come on Mikey..." Leo smiled as he helped his youngest brother up, trying to conceal his own laughter.

"Dude, not cool..." the orange clad turtle grumbled, shaking the water off of his head as Don pulled the lever that opened their lair.

The four turtles continued to shove each other playfully as they entered into their half destroyed home, though it was slightly better than it was before.

"Dude! Who's up for pizza? Haven't had any in forever!" Mikey exclaimed, doing a perfect flip onto their couch made of pizza boxes and old cushions.

"Only if you're buyin' numskull." Raph laughed, turning to go back to his room when he stopped.

The red banded turtle froze in his tracks at the sight before him for several seconds before turning and calling behind him.

"DONNIE!"

The bespectacled turtle whipped around and came up next to his brother, his own eyes the size of dinner plates as the humor that had filled the room evaporated.

"Oh shell no..." he muttered before kneeling beside the fallen shape on the ground.

Avery, who had seemed fine as she slept that morning, had somehow gotten herself off of her platform and was laying on the ground. Blood, both fresh and long dried were splattered here and there on the floor. Also, more seemed to be dripping from the girl's mouth and nose. She seemed to have fallen off of her platform in another coughing fit while they were gone.

"Don...what's going on?" Leo demanded, coming up to see the sudden exclamation from his brothers.

The purple banded turtle was frantically trying to find a pulse on the immobile girl but wasn't having any luck. He desperately saw the slight rise and fall of her chest but nothing else.

"Something's gone wrong..." he muttered, pressing his fingers against the girl's neck.

"Ya no kiddin' but what! She was talkin' yesterday." Raph growled, staring at the blood.

"Now this?"

Donatello shook his head and half turned back to his brothers, his face stony and serious.

"I don't know exactly what happened! But we can't wait anymore, we need to get her to a hospital. If not...she _will _die!" he said grimly.

There were a few minutes of silence in which everyone but Don looked to Leo. The blue banded turtle taking a deep breath before stepping forward.

"Alright...Don get her up and prepare to head out. We travel out of sight and fast, _now_!"


	5. Chapter 5: Back on Track

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Chapter 5! I was actually going to update this past weekend but I accidentally forgot to grab my laptop charger. So it's chilling back home while I borrow a cord from my college...Oh well better late then never. Hope you like this chap :) Reviews are always appreciated! Godbless.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Back on Track

_Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep_

Avery heard the beeps and wanted to kill whatever was making the noises. She couldn't even describe how horrible she felt. That was saying a lot since in the past few days the girl had been crushed by metal, dragged herself to a sewer, was rescued by mutants, and then had promptly blacked out.

Avery could barely keep conscious at the moment but it was strange, instead of feeling fearful or scared she was simply annoyed. Something was covering her nose and mouth and made the air feel stuffy. Her nose felt extremely itchy but her arms hurt to much to move and to make it even better the stupid beeping wouldn't stop! She guessed the only nice thing about her current position was that whatever she was laying one was soft and cushiony.

Finally, the young woman mustered the strength to open her eyes. The beeping continued on at a steady rhythm as she blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. She at first was confused, the last thing she remembered was being in a half destroyed dwelling with four mutant turtles and a giant rat. Now, she had somehow ended up in what looked like a hospital. It was getting very disorientating passing out every few days and ending up in a different place...

The click of footsteps made Avery turn her head slightly and look passed the mask-like thing that was covering her nose. She saw a short woman who looked to be in her forties walk into the white room, she was dressed like a nurse and held a clipboard. The woman looked up and her eyes widened as she saw that Avery was awake.

"Welcome back Ms. Ritz!" the woman smiled, coming up the bedside and checking the monitor that seemed to be the source of the annoying beeping.

Avery didn't know what to say, or if she could actually say anything at all. Everything hurt at the moment.

"What...happened?" Avery almost groaned, her voice coming out in barely a whisper.

The nurse turned, her smile fading slightly.

"You've been through a lot young lady but don't worry. The doctor will be in shortly, he will explain what's happened over the past four days or so."

The young woman's eyes widened, _'Four days!'_ she thought in shock, something bad must have really happened to her if she couldn't remember being out of commission for four days.

How could she had gotten to a hospital without remembering? Did she die? How did the turtle things even get her here? Were they even real?

The nurse saw her almost panicked look and put a gentle hand on Avery's arm, careful as to not hurt her.

"Don't worry! You're alright now, you made a miraculous recovery Ms. Ritz and everything will work out okay. Just rest for now okay?"

Avery looked up at the nurse and all at once wanted a hug. Yes, she was a functioning twenty year old and she wanted a hug, was that so much to ask for? Instead of doing so though, the girl simply nodded and closed her eyes once more. She didn't sleep though as memories and thoughts flew through Avery's head. For a good half an hour or so she tried to figure out what had happened but for the life of her she couldn't make heads or tails of how she had gotten from simply trying to sleep down in the sewers to blacking out and ending up here at a hospital.

That's when the young woman heard a door open and more footsteps. She once again opened her eyes and saw an older man walking in. He had salt and pepper hair that was combed back from his face. He wore glasses that made his eyes seem a little too big for his face but he seemed nice enough as he smile.

"Ms. Avery Ritz, I'm so glad that you're awake." the doctor said and pulled up a chair next to Avery's bedside.

"Me to..." the girl responded, trying to sit up slightly.

The doctor immediately sat back up with a concerned look, "I wouldn't move too much yet Ms. Ritz. You've only been out of surgery for a few days, you had some serious injuries." he said and Avery stopped moving.

"Surgery!?" she said in a rough voice, her voice cracking slightly.

The doctor sat back down once more, his smile fading slightly though as he brought his own clipboard up and started reading from it.

"Yes, as I said you had some very serious injuries: two fractured legs, four broken ribs, numerous internal hemorrhages, cracked collar bone, a severe concussion, several lacerations and bruises, and a crushed lower spinal cord." the doctor read off, hesitating slightly on the last injury.

Avery blinked once, trying to make her brain catch up so that she could at least say something resembling intelligence.

"How long until I recover?" Avery finally was able to ask, grasping onto one of the many questions floating around her brain.

The doctor's smile was entirely gone now and was replaced with a sorrowful look. That coupled with the glasses enlarging his eyes made him seem like a hound dog.

"I would say that your ribs and clavicle will shape up within a few weeks or so. And as long as you don't do anything strenuous over the next week, which I doubt, your bleeding should stop. As for your legs and back..."

Again the doctor hesitated once more which frustrated Avery. She wanted answers and wasn't getting them fast enough.

"I'm not concerned about how long, can I please just know?" she said rather harshly, resisting the urge to try and get up once more.

"Well, Ms. Ritz. As I said the bones will heal...but you are not going to be able to use them. The damage to your spine was...irreversible."

At first the young woman wasn't sure if she had heard right or not. _'Irreversible?! He doesn't mean...'_

"I...can't...move them?" she murmured.

The man in front of her nodded solemnly, his eyes showing how sorry he really was.

"That is correct. You were paralyzed from the hips down because of your crushed spinal cord. There was nothing we could do to reverse the damage. I'm sorry, so very sorry." he said, standing up from the chair.

Avery stared into space, her thoughts not seeming to be able to collect themselves as the words 'paralyzed' and 'irreversible' seemed to float across her vision.

"Can I have a minute?" she asked quietly, though she didn't quite remember wanting to talk.

The doctor nodded, "Of course. I know it's a lot to take in all at once but don't worry yourself too much. We will do everything we can to help you get moving again."

The man tried to to flash a smile but all the young woman did was stare straight ahead, seeming to try to move her now immobile feet with her mind. With a slight nod he left the room in silence as Avery continued to stare. Almost wishing that she hadn't woken up.

* * *

Eric Sacks felt like the world was falling down around him. His billion dollar company had lost almost half of its investors, stock had fallen into the red, and not to mention that he was now facing criminal charges that had yet to be resolved. Then there were the numerous insurance claims that his building's collapse had injured dozens of people.

He sighed as he sat in his dark office, ready to pull his hair out. He had worked so long and hard to get this company to where it had been and now...ruined over night by a little girl with daddy issues and four mutant freaks. Yes, he had cheated some, paid under the table, and kept his fingers in many pies but who didn't these days? Business was business and those who couldn't except that were out numbered and out gunned.

Sacks hit a fist against the top of his desk, scattering pens and pieces of paper to the ground and almost knocking over the glass of amber liquid that was left still half full.

"It can't be over yet..." he muttered picking up and taking a sip from the glass.

He sat in silence for a while longer taking periodic sips of alcohol until the glass was empty and his eyes had become slightly unfocused. Unmoving, he stared into empty spaced as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle with the same amber liquid. With slightly unsteady hands the man poured another half cup before replacing the bottle into the drawer.

"Why do you drink that filth?"

Sack's didn't immediately respond to the sudden voice that came from the dark shadow in the corner, his face showing no response what so ever as he took a sip.

"Because, Karai, it makes me feel better. And it's the only damn thing that can right now." he growled back, not bothering to move except to put his glass down.

The shadow in the corner moved and the woman revealed herself, her dark eyes narrowed in disgust as she gazed at the man before her.

"You sit and muddle your senses in drink while my father sits injured and in need. You are a fool..." the woman hissed, whipping out a short blade that flashed in the dim office light.

Sacks sat up at this, his eyes narrowed and his mouth curving up in a sneer.

"He is my father as much as yours Karai! You don't think I'm trying to do what I can up here? My company and life are about to be sucked away and you squabble over your petty feelings of insignificance." he growled, not noticing that he had risen out of his chair and had slammed both his hands onto the desk.

Anger and a spark of rage flashed through the woman's face and with a flick of her hand the slim blade that she held was only mere centimeters from Sack's chin. The man didn't flinch though and simply stared at her, face calm and collected as the blade fogged with his breath.

"Go ahead and do it." he said in a near whisper, his light eyes locked with her dark ones.

"It'll make my life easier."

Karai remained motionless for a few more moments before slowly taking her blade back and sliding it back into it's sheath.

"As much as I'd like to Sacks, _our _father requested that you discuss his future plans four days ago." the woman said icily.

"You still have not returned."

The man and gave a short chuckle, "And what plans would those be? The mutagen is gone, there's nothing to plan any more. There's no point."

Karai almost growled, her dark eyes flashing as she was about to offer a scorching remark when the phone on Sack's desk rang. They both looked over quickly before the man's emotionless mask fell. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his shoulders rising and falling slowly.

"Tell him that I will be back as soon as I can. I will listen to whatever plans that he has." Sacks growled before picking up the phone.

Karai frowned, not liking how she was addressed as a lowly messenger. But she bit her tongue and slid back into the shadows, disappearing out the window from whence she came.

* * *

_-3 Weeks Later-_

"How are you feeling today Avery?" the nurse came in, bearing a tray of food with her usual smiling face.

The young woman sitting upright in the hospital bed shrugged, "As good as I can be I guess."

The nurse nodded and set the tray on the girl's lap before putting a gentle hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Remember today's your last day! You get to go home and relax." she said happily before turning to leave.

Avery smiled but let it fade as the woman left, her eyes wandering the tray in front of her tiredly. She was glad to be finally getting released from the hospital, though she knew that things weren't about to get any easier. The young woman had gotten used to the fact that she no longer could use her legs and had even begun to use a wheelchair to get around since her arms and clavicle had almost completely healed. But her life outside the hospital was starting to catch up with her.

Just two days earlier she had called her boss to explain what had happened, leaving out her hallucinations of giant turtles, and had given him the news that she was now a paralytic. He was kind in his reception and gave a sincere apology but also dropped the news that since Avery's job at the office required her to run errands and be fairly mobile.

This was his way of gently saying that her job was now up for grabs.

It was what Avery had expected though, she knew that she'd be able to get by on disability at least for a little while at least until she could find a better paying job. The other big event was that she had been able to contact her mother and tell her what had happened.

It had taken all of Avery's power of persuasion to convince her overly bearing mom to not drive the six hours up to New York at that moment. She explained how she would be expecting her mother to arrive in another two weeks like they had planned earlier in the year. Of course Mrs. Ritz wasn't the lease bit happy about getting the news that her daughter had almost died three weeks later but was able to keep her motherly instincts in check.

Now all that was left was for Avery to figure out a way to pay the astronomical hospital bill that was sure to appear within the next few days. She highly doubted that her insurance covered nearly being crushed to death by falling bits of skyscraper. Avery shook herself out of her thoughts and began to pick at the food in front of her, happy at least that she'd be able to get better food back home.

She was poking a questionable looking grape with her fork when the door opened a little while later. The young woman looked up to see the doctor, whose name she had since found out was Dan Greene, walking through the door, followed by another younger man with a wheelchair.

"Ms. Ritz are you ready to go?" Dr. Greene asked, smiling kindly.

Avery returned it and had to admit it felt good to smile.

"As I'll ever be."

The doctor nodded, "Excellent! Now all we have to do is have one finally examination and go over your vitals. Then you can be on your way home." he said, taking the wheelchair from the younger man who left.

Avery nodded, placing her now half empty tray on the table to her right as the doctor came to sit by the bed with his clipboard. There were a few moments of silence in which the young woman fiddled with the paper strip that was around her wrist, marking her as a patient in the ICU.

"Alright, Avery. First of all how are you feeling right now?" the doctor first asked, flipping through the muticolored papers on the clipboard.

The young woman shrugged as she had before, "Better than I did when I first got here. Though I still have a twinge here and there." she said.

Dr. Greene nodded, "That's to be expected. The twinges will most likely fade with time and the up keep of your upper body strength.

"Anything else?"

Avery was quiet for a moment, thinking of anything that had been bothering her. She absentmindedly scratched her neck. This triggered something that had struck her only a few days ago.

"My neck on the side that was broken. It's been itching lately? Is that normal?"

Dr. Greene looked up, "Sometimes, when the nerves and muscle start to heal it can feel itchy or sore. Though it shouldn't be at that point for at least another week." he flipped up another piece of paper and scanned it quickly.

Avery frowned when the man didn't anything for a few more moments and his own brow furrowed.

"And it seems that's why..." he muttered.

"I'm sorry?" Avery said, crossing her arms as her eyes narrowed.

The doctor nodded once before putting his clipboard down "No, it's alright. Just sometimes when someone is injured severly their immune system either goes into remission or, in rarer cases, over compensates. Which is what your immune system seems to be doing, though I'm quite surprised that it is still as active as it is."

Avery didn't know exactly what the doctor was talking about but she got the sense that he wanted to say something else.

"Is there anything that I should be concerned about?" she finally asked.

Dr. Greene shook his head and gave another smile, though this time it seemed less genuine.

"No no. We'll just keep it in mind and if you start feeling sick again you should come back here. You're immune system should go back down on it's own though."

The young woman nodded and uncrossed her arms, convinced enough that she was ready to go back home and get back to normal...or at least as normal as if would be from this point on wards. She felt a slight twinge of excitement at the thought of going home to her cat and watching a movie. It seemed almost sad as how much she wanted some normalcy.

From there, Doctor Greene did a simple examination. He checked Avery's heart, lungs, and that her spine was healing properly. Nothing seemed to be amiss and he congratulated the young woman with a firm hand shake.

"All that needs doing now is to check out and you can head home."


	6. Chapter 6: Underground

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey all! I'm glad that you're still enjoying these chapter :) I'd love to know what you might be thinking or if you have any suggestions. Reviews are my brain fuel! Godbless!**

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Chapter 6: Underground

Avery sighed as she woke up, savoring the first deep, restful sleep that she had had in almost a month. She felt cozy and warm with the sunlight streaming through her window and her head buried in her comforter. It almost didn't register that she couldn't feel her legs...

After a few more minutes the young woman sighed once more, knowing that she wasn't going to fall back asleep. She sat up and glanced at her clock, slightly surprised when it read ten-thirty. She normally would be at work right now, taking notes for her boss or running to the coffee shop down the road to fetch three lattes and two ice coffees for her workmates. That didn't matter now though, Avery was out of a job.

The young woman maneuvered herself to sit on the edge of her bed and gently pulled her wheelchair over. In one swift movement Avery lowered herself down into the wheelchair and pushed herself towards the door. Absentmindedly, she scratched at her neck again as she planned what she would do for the day.

It had been almost a week since her release from the hospital, all in all over a month since she had had gotten caught under the collapsing building. Within that week the young woman was already starting to fall into a new, somewhat boring schedule.

She would get up and get breakfast before feeding her cat and watching House. Normally, Avery would watch a few episodes before growing bored and would go on her computer and look for job applications. Once in a while she had gone out for her version of a walk which usually included Avery pushing herself along the crowded sidewalks of New York until her shoulders would ache. Then she'd go home, make something for dinner and then get ready for bed before starting the process all over again.

Avery paused for a moment as her finger tips went over a small series bump on her collar bone and she scratched slightly harder, being one of those people who liked to pick scabs. Slowly, the young woman wheeled herself out of her bedroom and out into her living room.

The dark haired girl lived in a three room apartment that was on the second floor. The small bedroom led into the living room/kitchen and the bathroom led off of the kitchen part. The young woman went around and made herself a bagel and settled down in her living room. Not sure what she wanted to do for the day. If she was honest with herself she almost missed excitement and adventure of everyday life.

Not that being an office worker was that exciting but at least it was something to do every day. With a submissive sigh Avery grabbed the remote off of the couch and flipped on the TV. She carefully maneuvered her wheelchair next to the couch and pulled herself onto it. She neatly organized herself before pulling a blanket over her legs and settling down to watch more House.

...

Avery shook her head for the hundredth time to keep herself awake. It was now almost one in the afternoon and the young woman felt like a couch potato. She had only gotten up twice in this span of time and was slowly getting frustrated. She hated not being mobile enough to do simply tasks like working, cooking, or even just to go for a walk to keep herself occupied.

Avery sat up off her arm and stretched, the limb sore from holding up her head for so long. Once the fuzzy feeling in her hand went away Avery noticed something strange, her hand felt wet. The young woman looked down and saw that a light smudge of blood covered the palm of her hand and she frowned.

At first her first thought was the scab that she had scratched earlier but that should have sealed up ages ago. Carefully, she sat up and agonizingly slowly she hefted herself back into her wheelchair.

Without any real urgency Avery rolled into her bathroom, sighing as she could only see from her chin up in the mirror. One of the down sides of being in a wheelchair...

Normally the young woman would have simply ignored it and dismissed the scab as just an old scratch or some bump that she didn't remember getting. Ever since she came back though she'd been a little more paranoid about infections and anything that could have occurred because of her injuries. The young woman rolled her eyes and rummaged through one of the drawers. She snatched up a small compact mirror and tilted her head.

There was a sharp intake of breath and a scream escaped from the bathroom. Avery stared, any dregs of sleep that had clung to her now long gone as her heart raced into her throat. The woman stared into the small mirror, her fingers turning white as she gripped it so hard that it shook. The blood was in a small amount but the reason for the blood was why Avery was staring horrified at her reflection.

The small series of bumps that the young woman had taken to simply be scabs were something much more substantial. Each bump seemed to be embedded into Avery's skin and was quite hard, like some sort of nail or scale material. In total there seemed to be twenty or so bumps, each varying in size. Some were barely visible and looked more like specks while some were almost the size of dimes. All of which were a muddled gray/green color.

Avery lifted her hair and saw that the bumps ran from her collar bone up to just below her jaw line. She saw that in the process of scratching her neck she had dislodged one of the larger scales and that was the source of the bleeding, which was already starting to clot. The woman experimentally put her finger nail against one of the larger scales and tapped. It resonated up her neck and Avery involuntarily shivered. What ever these things were she could feel them and they hurt when pulled. Somehow they were part of her...

Avery nearly toppled out of her wheelchair as she turned and rushed to pick up her telephone back out in the kitchen. With shaky fingers she dialed the hospital's number and put the phone to her ear. It rang three times before a woman picked up on the other end.

"Lennox Hill Hospital, how may I help you today?"

"Yes, I need to speak to Dr. Greene please. It's very urgent." Avery said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

There was shuffling on the other end for a moment and the young woman tapped her fingers against the side of the phone in an attempt to keep from yelling.

"Dr. Greene is unfortunately out on call for the weekend. If you'd like I can take your name and number and let him know you called. Or you could set up an appointment for next week." the woman said and Avery's heart dropped.

"Please, you don't understand. I need to talk to him about something that may have happened while I was at the hospital. I need..." she started.

"Ms...Please...if this is a real emergency then I would gladly call an ambulance for you or if you have a complaint about the hospital I can connect you to Patient Relations." the woman on the other end interrupted, sounding less then friendly now.

Avery wanted to push further and was about spit back a retort. The words caught in her throat though as she reconsidered.

What would happen if an ambulance showed up and the people saw the scales...or whatever they were and thought she was some kind of science experiment? Or what if she had some new virus? She wanted this to be handled without any sort of mass panic if it could be helped.

"No...I'm sorry. Just if you could tell him to call Avery Ritz back as soon as he can I would appreciate it." Avery said softly, keeping the shaking in her voice to a minimum.

The woman on the other end gave a satisfied huff and seemed to type something before shuffling something.

"I will do that Ms. Ritz. Thank you for calling." There was a sharp click as the phone call ended and Avery sat there in her wheelchair, holding the phone as if it were a life line.

For a long while she sat there, rubbing her neck in a mechanical, almost frantic way. Finally, a small tabby and white cat came through the kitchen and gave a small meow. When Avery didn't seem to hear, the animal lept up into her lap and butted it's head into her chest. The young woman blinked and shakily took a breath before stroking the cat.

"I need answers..." she muttered to the tabby who blinked back happily, a purr starting up in it's throat.

"I can't sit around anymore."

Avery wheeled herself back through her living room and into her bed room. Her cat meowed once more and lept onto the bed, watching as the young woman started to rummage through her closet. She pulled out bags, random articles of clothing, and the occasional shoe until finally she pulled out what she had been looking for: a backpack.

Then, Avery proceeded to stuff a few t-shirts, an extra pair of socks, her cell phone and a sweat shirt into the bag before quickly rolling herself back into the kitchen. She began pulled out drawers and throwing random things into the outside pockets. A couple flashlights, extra batteries and a water bottle were followed by a few granola bars. Finally, she wheeled over to her front door and threw on a light windbreaker and grabbed her sneakers.

After some awkward finagling Avery had put her shoes on over her lifeless feet and had slung the backpack over the handles of her wheelchair.

"Okay..." she hissed through her teeth, staring at the front door as if it were some sort of hurtle or obstacle.

"Do I really want to do this?" she muttered, rubbing her thumb against the wheel of her chair.

_'You're going to do this and regret it...' _a voice seemed to say in her head but she ignored it and continued her staring match with the door.

It wasn't until her cat returned and pawed at her knee did she look down, her features softening.

"Don't worry Klunk, I'll be back soon." Avery whispered to the cat before throwing some food down.

She knew that it would last him at least until tomorrow. If not, she could call a friend at work or something to check in on him. The less time she was away the better anyway. With a deep breath she gave Klunk one last pat before zipping up her windbreaker and opening the door.

* * *

"Come on Leo...why do we have to come out and patrol this often? I was about to beat my head count in Halo!" Michelangelo grumbled as he followed his older brother through the sewers.

The blue masked turtle rolled his eyes but tried to keep his tone light as he answered.

"You know why Mikey. We may have beaten the Foot but that doesn't mean that they're going to turn tail and disappear. They could still come back looking for us. We need to make sure that they can't find the new lair."

"Dude, it's been over a month since then and we've seen nothing!" The younger turtle sighed but his brother didn't answer.

He knew that Leo was right though. He didn't want to become a walking blood bank again any time soon. The turtle couldn't help but grumble though as Leonardo came to a halt and peered around a corner in almost exaggerated carefulness. They had come to a four way junction in the sewer and it seemed that Leo wasn't going to move any time soon.

"Bro...com'mon man." Mikey whispered.

The blue banded turtle whipped around, his gray eyes narrowed dangerously and a finger pressed against his mouth in the universal gesture to shut up. Mikey backed off slightly but cocked his head to listen, trying to figure out what had Leo suddenly spooked.

At first all he heard was the slosh of water in the channel to their right and the occasional patter of a rat scurrying by. But then out of the normal, an unusual pattern of sounds emerged, making Michelangelo frown. At this Leo's hand moved towards one of his swords and he removed it silently.

The pattern started out with a scraping noise followed by some sort of hiss or whisper. Then, after a few seconds it was followed by a soft clunk and more whispers.

"What is that?" he hissed after a few minutes.

The blue clad turtle's eyes were glued to the tunnel directly across the channel from them, his eyes narrowed to silver slits.

"I dunno...but I bet you my second katana it's not supposed to be down here." he growled. Michelangelo nodded, removing his own weapons as his older brother took a cautions step forward.

* * *

"Dammit!" Avery hissed to herself as the wheel of her wheelchair got caught once more in the uneven floor of the sewer.

She shifted back and forth until the wheel jerked forward and she slid forward slightly on the grime coated ground.

_'Stupid idea Avery! You know you came down here for no reason!' _she thought to herself as she tried not to topple over into the channel of filthy water next to her.

_'Those turtle things were probably just a figment of your imagination...you got lost down here for pretend heroes that you made up!'_ she continued to think as she made her way forward slowly.

Wheelchairs definitely weren't made for subterranean sewer exploration, the thin wheels either couldn't get a grip and slid in the muck or got caught on every bump or uneven area in the concrete. Slowly but surely though Avery made her way forward with only one other obstruction until she came to a the end of the tunnel. The concrete path that led next to the channel of water ending as her channel converged with four others at some sort of junction.

Avery growled to herself and looked around almost forlornly. There was no way that she could make it across the water even if she wanted to swim through the scarily brown water. Even then there was no way she would be able to keep track of where she was, eventually she'd have no way of getting out. If she hadn't gotten lost already.

"Well then..." she grumbled, feeling her heart fall at the prospect of waiting three days to hear back from Doctor Greene.

As great as that really sounded at the moment Avery wanted answers before whatever was happening to her got worse. There was no way to get those answers though...at least not now with her path blocked and her mobility limited. She stayed for a few minutes, glaring at the water as if it were the cause for every bad thing in the world.

Carefully, the young woman began the arduous process of turning her wheelchair as if it were some sort of vehicle. Inch by inch she rotated until her back was facing the junction and she was staring down the dark tunnel that she had come out of. Hopefully she could remember the way that she had come.

With a hard shove Avery pushed her wheelchair in motion but it stopped within seconds as the wheel got caught in yet another crevice that peppered the cement. She groaned and tried to rock the wheel back out but for whatever reason it was stuck harder then the other times. She grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and rocked back and forth, each time gaining momentum until she was moving back and forth at a respectable rate.

Avery could feel the wheel start to budge, just a little further... That's when she shifted her weight one last time and the wheel slid but this time it didn't stop.

The young woman felt the chair tilt as the wheel hit the edge of the channel and she lost her balance. For what felt like an eternity Avery fell and then she hit the water.

It was colder and faster then she thought it would be. The water swept Avery under at first until she remembered how to use her arms to swim. Unfortunately, from her hips down was dead weight and only helped the water carry her to the junction where it grew deeper. She felt her head dip under once, twice, and then three times before her vision was all but blocked out by grimy water and her hair. She went under and heard nothing but the high pitched hiss of water and her own panicked splashing.

Suddenly, something brushed Avery's waist and she nearly lost her mind. At first she thought that perhaps it was just trash but it happened again and she started thrashing. Despite her panicked movements whatever had touched her gripped her waist and she felt herself being pulled. She let loose a scream of bubbles that totally obscured her vision. Her lungs continued to burn as water rushed into her mouth. There was a loud series of splashes as Avery tried not to breath in the water.

Then, suddenly she was heaved upwards and her head broke the surface. She gasped glorious lungfuls of air and began to cough harshly, her still bruised ribs twinging slightly as she tried not to pass out. At first she didn't know what had happened as she was put down. The young woman simply sat backwards, her shoulders leaning against the wall as she tried to pull her dripping hair away from her vision.

"Man...we need to start charging you for rescues girl."

The voice made Avery freeze and she quickly looked up as she brushed her hair out of her face. Standing above her were two of the turtle creatures that she had come down to find.

The one wearing the blue mask she remembered was Leonardo. The other one was wearing an orange mask and she dimly remembered his name being Mikey or something along those lines. He himself was also sopping wet but didn't seem to mind as much as Avery did.

Avery realized that he must have jumped into the channel of water after her and pulled her out. The both of them were staring at her expectantly and she realized that they were expecting her to respond in some way. Instead she had been staring upward dumbly.

"Th...thank you...again." she panted, looking down to make sure she was still in one piece.

She was cold and wet but nothing seemed to be hurt except maybe her pride. Avery was slightly concerned that she may have opened up old wounds with her unexpected swim.

"What are you doing back down here?" Leonardo asked, his voice taking on a slight edge and his eye narrowed.

Avery flinched but knew she couldn't quite blame him, she had sorta shown up out of the blue again. This time on purpose.

"I came looking for you guys...I need answers." she said softly, sitting forward slightly with her legs stuck out in front of her at odd angles.

The two turtles shared a glance before looking back to Avery.

"Look, we know you're probably confused and a little scared that we're living down here in your sewers but no one was supposed to know about us. It would be best if you just left." the blue banded turtle said, crouching down so that he was face to face with the young woman.

Avery frowned, "It's not your existence that I want answers to...or at least they're not my main concern right now."

This seemed to surprise both Leonardo and Michelangelo, their eyes widened slightly and they looked at the girl in front of them curiously.

"If it's not us then what do you want?" the orange one asked crouching down as well.

Avery didn't know how to explain exactly, she was still trying to get over the fact that she had actually found what..._who_ she was looking for. Instead of speaking she simply pulled her sopping hair back and turned her shoulder, revealing the strange bumps on her neck and collar bone.

"I found these this morning. I have no idea what they are or where they may of come from...except from...well you." she murmured, not wanting to sound accusatory but at the same time wanting to make the turtles understood.

There was silence in which Avery didn't look up and simply let her hair fall back down, staring at her lap.

"Alright..."

The girl almost jumped at the sudden word and finally looked up, seeing that Leonardo was offering her a three fingered hand.

"You're going to help me?"

Leonardo nodded, "If we can. I can't make you any promises though..."

Avery nodded and gave a slightly uncomfortable smile, glancing at the offered hand.

"If you do want to help then you might want to get that wheelchair that fell in."

When the turtles gave her a confused look she sighed and dropped the smile, "I can't use my legs anymore...they're paralyzed."


	7. Chapter 7: Explanations or Lack Thereof

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey, sorry for sudden lessening of updates. I had up to chapter 6 written ahead of time and wanted to get ahead of the game again before I posted again. Either way here's chapter 7! Happy Thanksgiving and Godbless :)**

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Chapter 7: Explanations or Lack Thereof

"Here we are." Avery blinked rapidly as the cloth that was over her eyes was removed.

She looked expectantly up but was thoroughly disappointed when all she saw was the solid brick wall of the sewer. She looked to the left and right but saw no entrance, hole, or even a ladder that led anywhere. She was extremely confused as to why the three of them were now staring at a blank wall.

_'If they're messing with me...' _she thought to herself.

"Well..." she answered, glancing up at Leo skeptically

Leo simply gave a rare smile as he reached up without a word. The turtle grabbed a section of pipe that ran over head and turned it to the right. A sudden whoosh was followed by a heavy grinding noise that soundly slightly like a rumbling subway.

Avery looked up in shock as the wall of the sewer slid to the side to reveal a whole new area behind it. She shook herself as Leonardo and Michelangelo walked ahead and she pushed herself forward. Her wheelchair squeaking slightly from the water that still dripped from it as she made her way into be the turtle's new home.

It looked like it could have been an old holding area for water and was quite a bit bigger then the old one. The lower floor seemed to consist of a large sitting area, some sort of kitchen, and a larger central atrium that seemed to be some sort of training area or gym. There was also a large door in the far right corner that seemed to be covered in caution signs. Avery assumed that the upper level consisted of bed rooms of some sort and whatever else was needed for living.

"Welcome to home 2.0." Mikey grinned, and gave an exaggerated bow.

Avery gave a small smile and pushed herself forward, her eyes wandering over each detail with intense curiosity. She came to a halt before the floor dipped down into the training area and Leonardo held up a hand.

"Before we can do anything we need to talk to our sensei. Can you wait here?"

The young woman nodded, pulling her still damp hair back into a loose pony-tail. It wasn't like she could go very far very fast. The two turtles nodded back before jumping up the stairs that led to the upper level and disappeared behind a rice paper door. Avery stared for a moment before continuing to look around, her uneasiness the only thing that kept her from exploring. Though she did allow herself a moment to rummage through her backpack. Nothing had escaped the murky water and now everything had a pervasively sulfurous smell along with being soggy and damp.

"Great..." she muttered, putting her head in her hands for a moment before putting her backpack back on the handle of her chair.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Avery's brain was having a tough time catching up with all that had happened again. She almost couldn't believe that the turtles were real and not just something she had dreamed. Avery almost felt like laughing, she wasn't crazy...or at least not entirely.

She sat up once more in the silent room and glanced up to where Leonardo and Mikey had disappeared.

"Weren't there two more?" she muttered to herself, glancing over to the far door that was covered in caution signs and she frowned.

"Wonder where..." she began to say when a throaty growl interrupted her.

"How 'bout behind cha."

Avery felt her heart jump into her throat at the unexpected voice and she nearly gave herself whip lash as she tried to turn around. With fumbling fingers she turned her wheelchair around and looked up into the looming face of the red banded turtle.

She hadn't even heard him come into the room.

"What are ya doin' in our home?!" he growled once more while pulling out two three pronged weapons from his belt.

Avery's eyes went wide and she backed up slightly, her hands shaking as she gripped the slippery wheels of her chair. She tried to respond but her voice got caught in her throat and she sat there gaping like a fish. The turtle smirked slightly, though his menacing expression stayed the same as he took another step forward.

"I asked, whadda doin' here?!" he pointed the wicked looking point of one of his weapons at Avery who swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I needed help...Leonardo and Michelangelo brought me here." she said quickly, leaning as far back as possible to get away from the sharp looking blade.

The red banded turtle straightened up, a sneer crossing his face. He didn't put away his weapons though and continued to glare at Avery as if she had personally insulted him. He seemed about to say something else when there was the hiss of the rice paper door opening and both the young woman and turtle looked up.

Standing at the top of the stairs was the same humanoid rat, Splinter, followed by Leo and Mikey.

"Ah, Raphael. I see that you've come to welcome out guest." Splinter said as he calmly took the stairs down, his sharp eyes pinning the turtle in place.

The large turtle glanced at Avery once before putting his weapons away, giving a dissatisfied huff.

"Didn't know we were startin' up a hotel." he muttered, walking back towards the other end of the room.

Splinter watched his son leave with a shake of his head before approaching the still startled Avery.

"I do apologize for that. Raphael can be overly _protective, _especially after the events that we have been through over the past week." the rat said as he came to stand before the young woman, his gaze softening.

She nodded slowly, her eyes wandering back over to where the red banded turtle had left.

"It's...alright. I know I'm not the most welcome person." she glanced back at Splinter and the turtles.

The rat seemed to smile, "We are simply not used to visitors. Especially ones that seek us out so eagerly as my sons tell me."

Avery felt her face grow hot but she tried to keep focused, "I'm sorry...It's just I don't think that I could find answers anywhere else."

Splinter nodded, "Leonardo has explained to me why you came down here and you are right to be cautious. Though I'm sure you know that we may not provide much assistance."

"I think at this point I will take what I can get..." Avery saw a flicker of amusement pass over the rat's face before he gestured to the the far door that was covered in caution signs.

The young woman followed, slightly wary of the door. As they got closer her apprehension increased as she noticed that the edges of the door seemed to be blackened as if they had held in an explosion.

"Donnie's lab."Michelangelo leaned over next to Avery and whispered.

The girl's eyes widened, "Lab? Like as in a science lab?"

The orange clad turtle nodded with a grin, "Yup, Don's like our own personal mad scientist. He's always tinkering with inventions and computers."

Avery selfconsciously rubbed the bumps on her neck, half wondering if this really was such a good idea.

* * *

"Ow!" Avery muttered as the small device pricked her neck, and she pulled back slightly.

Donatello rolled his eyes but said nothing as he glanced at the young woman before turning to the device in his hand. Once again she felt like a bug under a microscope as the purple banded turtle dialed in some numbers to the strange device and turned away slightly.

Apparently, according to Michelangelo (Avery had found out his full name) his brother had built it himself. Mikey had said this in an attempt to encourage the young woman but if anything it made her even more concerned. It looked like it had once been some sort of blood sugar tester but it was way past being anything recognizable to Avery now.

Wires and other doodads stuck out of it here and there making it look like something from Star Trek. There were several moments of silence in which Avery tried not to look anywhere other then her own hands. Behind her somewhere Leonardo and Splinter were discussing in low tones while Donatello muttered something to himself over by a very cluttered desk. Mikey was humming something to himself while flashing glances at the young woman.

Finally, after another minute or so there was a loud beep and everyone looked up and over at the purple masked turtle. He turned from looking over his desk with a very guarded look and he glanced over at his master. The rat approached and Avery clenched her hands into fists, a mix of fear and apprehension rising up as her answers sat only a few feet away.

"So..." Mikey said quietly, earning a quick glare from Donnie.

Splinter nodded to himself and walked back over to where Avery sat on a table, her wheelchair sitting off to the side.

"Avery, can you remember anything that was strange about the day that you were injured?" the rat asked.

The young woman frowned, she didn't remember much of anything from that entire week. Most of what she did remember, either doing or seeing were blurred or fragmented with black spots. She concentrated and tried to remember the few moments before the skyscraper had collapsed.

She had been walking back from work that afternoon when a big group of people had begun to scream and run. Avery had looked up at the commotion and then that was when the debris had hit the ground. She had felt the pain and blacked out then she remembered coming back to reality with blurred visions as she lay there, thinking that she was going to die.

"I remember the building falling..." she muttered, closing her eyes as she tried to work through her muddled thoughts.

"I was hit and blacked out. Then I saw..." she hesitated, trying to discern the blotches of memory and what they faded colors and blury shapes meant.

"What is it?" Splinter asked and Avery felt him place a hand on her shoulder.

Out of instinct she flinched away, shifting to the side as she looked up into liquid eyes. Immediately, the young woman felt guilty at her adversion but saw that the rat didn't seem to take it personally. She closed her eyes once more and tried to remember the final moments of consiousness that she had before waking up with the turtles.

"I saw some thing or..a person...they were covered in some sort of _armor _I guess..." she opened her eyes once more and looked at Splinter.

The rat was looking at Avery intently, a slight flash of fear crossing his furry features. The same look was reflected in all three of the turtles that had also turned to look at the young woman.

"That's all I remember before waking up down in the sewers." she muttered, unsettled by how concerned Splinter and the turtles seemed by her account.

"Donatello...do you have any answers for Ms. Avery?" the rat looked away and took a step back, his hands clasped behind his back.

The purple clad turtle glanced back down at the device in his hand. His eyes obscured by his glasses.

"Well...there aren't too many straight answers but I do have an _idea_...Right now your immune system is extremely stimulated right now." he answered, glancing up at Avery.

She nodded slowly, "They said the same thing when I left the hospital. But my doctor said that it was because of the extent of my injuries."

The turtle shook his head, "Normally, yes that could be the cause but that should have stopped weeks ago. The reason that your immune system is so boosted is because it seems to be trying to fight something off."

"You mean...I'm sick?" Avery said slowly, her brow furrowing.

"In a way." Donatello shrugged, "It's more like there is some sort of substance within your body that isn't supposed to be there. Your immune system is reacting to whatever that is."

There were a few moments of silence in which Avery absently rubbed the strange scales that on her neck.

"Is this _substance_..." she almost spat out the word, "what's causing these things?"

Donnie nodded, "Though, I can't tell you what the stuff is."

The young woman blinked in surprise. "You don't know?"

More silence followed at the purple clad turtle shook his head and looked to his brothers and Splinter. The rat seemed at a loss for an explanation as well which, if anything, irritated Avery. Se had come down here for answers and now all she was getting were more questions. She had almost risked her life coming down to this stinking sewer to find these turtles and now all they were doing was telling her things that she already knew.

"I need to know what's happening!" she said sharply, trying not to show her anger but failing.

Splinter stepped forward, coming face to face with the young woman and making her flinch back for a second time.

"Avery..." he murmured quietly but in such a tone that she listened attentively.

"This is a very complicated matter and the answers you seek are not easily teased out of hiding. Somehow you have been caught up in events that are much more complicated then they appear."

The young woman stared at the rat, tears building behind her eyes and she fought them back. She felt like everything was falling away from reality and the only solid thing that Avery felt she could grasp onto was the idea that she could get answers.

"Please..." she whispered, "Please tell me what you _do_ know."

Splinter sighed and glanced over at his sons. He nodded once to Leonardo before turning back to look right into Avery's eyes.

"Donatello, please try to find out what you can. Avery as I said before, I cannot guarantee answers but I will tell you what I think." Avery nodded once as Splinter stepped back, her shoulders rising and falling as she took a deep breath.

Slowly, she reached down and grabbed the handles of her wheelchair and hoisted herself down.

"If you would follow me." the rat said and slowly turned out of the room, Avery following close behind.

* * *

"Here are the files you asked for sir." the young blonde said, handing a thick folder to Eric Sacks.

"Thank you Emily." he grumbled, to tired to try and seem agreeable.

The intern nodded with a slightly offended look and briskly left the office, her heels clacking on the floor. She was one of the few interns that the company could afford to keep since it's decline but didn't seem too thrilled with it.

Sacks glared at the folder that sat smugly on the desk before flicking it open with the tip of his finger. His eyes scanned the names and claims that the dozen or so people had filed towards his company regarding the building collapse.

Each had pages upon pages of differing claims, ranging from injures to simple car destruction. With a slight growl he started going through the paperwork, sorting it by how valid the claim seemed in his opinion.

"Leeches..." he snarled as he read one claim from a Dorothy Davis who claimed that she needed money for therapy due to seeing the tragic event.

He continued going through the claims, sorting through them with a disdain that one would usually find when someone was picking up a dead animal. There a few claims here or there that seemed legitimate enough. Company cars crushed by debris, damage done to neighboring buildings, and two actual medical claims from people caught in the rubble.

Besides those few claims Eric Sacks tossed the rest into the trash bin at his feet. With a sigh he picked up the two claims from the two injured people. One was an older gentle man by the name of Steven Briggs who had been hit by debris and had broken his leg and suffered a concussion. Sacks rolled his eyes but knew that this was one claim that couldn't simply be ignored. He looked to the next one and saw that it was slightly different from the rest.

The claim wasn't actually from the specific person but had been filed by the accounting office of Lennox Hill Hospital. He read down the list and saw that it was for a young woman who had been permanently disabled by the collapse of the tower. He conceded that this was probably the most legitimate claim out of all of them.

He sighed and reluctantly set the papers aside, slowly sitting up out of his chair before grabbing his grabbed his brief case and slipped the two valid claims into it before clicking it shut. With one last sigh, he straightened up and walked out of his office, locking the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 8: Nunchucks

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey! So I'm getting back up to speed with updates so hopefully I can stay on track :) I'd love to know what you all think of how the story is going so far. Too slow? Too quick? Not enough action? Reviews are my fuel! Anyway enjoy and Godbless!**

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Chapter 8: Nunchucks

Avery was enjoying silence for once. Usually the city girl in her looked forward to the hustle and bustle of life that was the heart of New York City. She enjoyed falling asleep to the rumble of cars and shouts of random people, it was her lullaby.

Right now though the young woman had too much to think about at the moment. Sleep was the last thing on her mind at the moment despite the exhaustion that pulled at her eye lids. Her wristwatch had stopped at three thirty-two ever since her swim in the sewer channel. So Avery had to guess as to the time since she had yet to see a clock. She had spent a good chunk of the evening talking with Splinter and it had probably gotten late in that time. On pure estimation the young woman assumed it was around eleven at night.

Avery remembered the things that the rat had told her, the story behind the mutants that were living in the sewer. He had abridged much of their origins to the pure facts that they had at one point been experimented on before being dumped into the sewer.

From there Splinter had told how the wealthy entrepreneur Eric Sacks had captured three of the turtles and badly injured Splinter and Raphael in an attempt to get their blood. Apparently, the remaining turtle had gone with the help of two friends (whom the rat didn't really mention much) to Sack's estate to free his brothers before going back to New York to finish the fight.

Avery listened I disbelief as Splinter explained how, because of their fight the building had begun to collapse. Leading to the reason behind the young woman's injuries. For a long time afterward Avery had simply let the information sink into her brain, though for a long time she had almost tried to convince herself that it was still all just a bad dream.

Unfortunately, it had only gotten worse as Splinter had come to the decision that Avery should stay with them until her condition was brought to light. His fear was that their enemies would somehow find out and try to harm her. She had protested at first, wanting to go back home since she had already been down in the sewers longer than she had planned. Not to mention that, despite the rat and turtle's good intentions...they scared Avery.

She couldn't help but feel bad about her adverse feelings but it couldn't be helped. The young woman simply felt uncomfortable, as if she were in the presence of some one who was sick.

Splinter was adamant though and had Leonardo show her to a small spare room with an old futon stuffed in the corner. It was more of a small storage room but it more than Avery had expected at this point.

This was where she was currently residing in her wheelchair. She was grateful for the piece of fabric that acted as a door as it gave her a separated feeling. It was simply a flimsy piece of cloth but to Avery it was her mental wall.

She was confused and scared as she felt the bumps on her neck for what must have been the hundredth time. Avery didn't want to be there any more, all she wanted was to fall asleep and forget. There was no way that she was going to sleep though, she felt exposed and vulnerable as it was with her limited mobility. Being stuck in a small room, surrounded by things she didn't know made her feel even more so.

Beyond her door of fabric the rest of the turtle's home was dark and silent so the young woman assumed that the creatures were asleep.

_'Do they even actually sleep though?'_ she thought suddenly, not sure what to consider normal anymore.

_'Maybe they're nocturnal and sleep during the day...'_ she heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose at her scattered thoughts.

Avery tried to fight the burning behind her eyes but unfortunately the feeling was much more persistent. She put her head in her hands as the tears ran down her face, her shoulders shaking pathetically.

* * *

Michelangelo woke, feeling slightly more exhausted then he thought he should have been. He sat up in his hammock and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before adjusting his bandana. With a heave he jumped out of his hammock and stretched before looking around the room. Mikey saw that all of his older brothers were already up and gone and he sighed, not really wanting to get up and moving.

"Ah shell..." he muttered since he almost always got picked on for sleeping in.

He stretched once more and yawned widely as he walked out of the room. He heard soft chit chat coming from the kitchen and saw Leo and Donnie sitting at the table.

"Morning bros.." he muttered as he walked in and began rifling through one of the cabinets in search of breakfast.

The two older turtles stopped their conversation and looked up at Michelangelo.

"Hey Mikey, did Raph ever come back last night?" the blue banded turtle asked as his brother turned, his hand digging into a box of Captin Crunch.

"Nah, don' thinch he came batch..." he mumbled as he stuffed a handful of cereal into his mouth.

Leo and Don shared a glance, both of them concerned about where their brother had gone off to in the night. Mikey sat down in a third chair and noticed the nervous looks that his brothers had on their faces.

"Guyths..." he said, crumbs tumbling down his front from his full mouth.

"Raph 'ill be fthine! Heth don dis befo'."

Leonardo raised an eye ridge and glanced at Donatello once more, "Translation please."

The purple banded turtle rolled his eyes, " He said that Raph's done this before. And..." he looked back at Mikey.

"We know he's done this before Mikey. Every time though he seems to get into trouble, not to mention that when he _does _get back he's gunna be pissed at Master Splinter's decision."

The youngest turtle momentarily stopped stuffing his face and swallowed his mouthful of cereal. He glanced over at the opposite side of the room were the covered doorway sat. The previous day's memories surfacing in his mind and the turtle gave an inward sigh.

"Riiight...she's still here." he remembered.

The doorway was dark and silent, nothing seemed to be moving on the other side.

"Any sign that she's alive?" Michelangelo asked in a somewhat sarcastic way.

Donnie shook his head, "Not yet. Though I can't really blame her, she probably has no idea what to do with everything that's happened."

Mikey nodded slowly before throwing a single piece of cereal up into the air before catching it in his mouth. There were a few minutes of silence in which Donnie got up to make his usual coffee and Leo simply sat, deep in thought. This continued until the blue banded turtle straightened in his chair. A insightful look on his face.

"Guys I just thought of something. What if we asked April to come down to meet this girl? Do you think that would maybe help her adjust?"

Donatello turned with a chipped mug of coffee in his hand, his expression thoughtful at this new prospect. Neither of the other two brothers had thought of this option, though now it seemed the obvious choice.

"That could actually be very helpful. Who better to help out a human than another human." Donnie grinned before sipping the steaming mug.

"Ya, O'Neil would be able to help her!" Mikey grinned and shot a fist towards the ceiling.

"Alright then" Leo nodded and stood from his chait.

"I'll go topside and talk to April. Maybe even keep an eye out for Raph while I'm up there."

Donnie nodded, "I need to stay in the lab to keep an eye on the test results and fix up some things around the place." he flashed a glance at Mikey.

"Cause apparently some turtles can't comprehend that nunchucks and kitchen appliances don't mix."

Michelangelo gave an embarrassed grin, "Bro, wasn't my fault! The toaster wouldn't give me my bagel back."

The bespectacled turtle simply rolled his eyes before standing along with Leonardo.

Mikey grinned and lept up, "Alright! Topside trip!"

He turned towards the door when Leo stopped the younger turtle with hand on his shoulder.

"Hold up Mikey, you should probably stay here."

Michelangelo's smile vanished and he shook off his brother's hand, "Bro why!? I haven't been topside in forever!"

With an amused look the eldest turtle shrugged, "Someone needs to make sure that our guest is okay since Master Splinter is out and Dons got stuff to do."

The orange banded turtle's eyes went wide as silence fell for a moment, seeing now that his elder brother was indeed being serious.

"Wait...what!?"

Leo gave slight smile before giving his brother one last pat on the shoulder, "You always have been a ladies man Mikey."

And with that the blue banded turtle turned to leave the lair, the wall closing behind him with a soft boom. The orange clad turtle turned and gave Donatello a withering look, simply earning himself a laugh from the older turtle before he went off to his lab. This left Mikey standing in the middle of kitchen, the box of Captain Crunch having fallen to the floor.

"Ah _shell_!"

* * *

Avery started, her eyes shooting open as she realized that she had fallen asleep in her wheelchair. Her neck ached horribly as she straightened up, her back cracking in several places as the exhausting memories from the day before came rushing back in blurry flashes.

The young woman had forced herself to stay up into the early morning and had only dozed off within the last few hours. She yawned widely and stretched her arms up over her head, releasing another series of cracks. Avery tried to run a hand through her hair but stopped when her fingers caught in a huge rats nest of hair.

_'Great...'_ she thought to herself, grabbing the mass of dark hair and throwing it into a a messy bun before turning to look at the covered doorway.

It seemed to be slightly lighter in the room beyond so she assumed that her reptilian hosts were up. She strained to hear anything but it was just as silent as it had been the night before. With a sigh she put her head in her hands and took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts.

Avery had no idea what she was technically _"allowed"_ to do or what she was supposed to do. She knew she wasn't a prisoner but at the same time there were limited options with her being confined to a wheelchair.

The young woman still felt wary of the turtles but knew that she couldn't just stay put away in a closet. She wouldn't get any answers by being afraid. Again her hand wandered up to her neck and she rubbed the bumps that ran up to her jaw, determined to at least look around.

Avery promised herself that if she still didn't feel comfortable then she would go back.

"Just relax..." she whispered to herself.

Carefully, Avery wheeled herself forward and hooked a finger around the edge of the fabric covering the door. She peeked out and with a relieved sigh saw that the downstairs seemed to be empty.

_'Maybe I could leave...and come back when the test is finished.'_ she thought and warily started forward.

The central room was quiet and Avery felt the nervousness in her stomach fade slightly. It seemed that Splinter and the turtles had gone out. The young woman slowly made her way around and glanced around now that there was no one watching her. She noted the quirky things that she hadn't noticed when she had first arrived.

A couch and chair made out of stacked pizza boxes sat in front of odd jumble of different sized televisions that looked like they were put together in a game of Tetris. One of the ones in the right hand corner was obviously busted with the glass shattered as if it had been punched while several of the others looked like they were held together with nothing but duct tape.

Avery's gazed wandered from the eccentric living area to the extremely messy looking kitchen.

A sparse amount of pots and plates sat unwashed in the sink along with what looked like a small, rusty motor of some sort. Pizza boxes sat in towering stacks on the counter that looked like they were about to topple over. What seemed to be motor oil stained the rickety kitchen table that was paired with five mismatched chairs that were more tape and repairs than actual chair.

With a small sniff Avery's eyes finally fell on the more organized looking matted area that occupied the area of the floor that dipped down in a large bowl. The floor was covered in an assortment of old rugs that were frayed and several had holes plastered over with duck tape. It looked to be some sort of dojo.

Three training dummies stood off to the side while it was mirrored by a large wooden rack filled with different types of weapons on the opposite side. Carefully, the young woman wheeled her way down and followed her curiosity over to the rack of weapons. Avery had never really been around weapons before and she would be the last person to be involved in anything violent.

She had two step brothers that had used to take karate lessons and constantly were involved in paint ball but that was the only things that Avery had actually ever been around in her lifetime. Unless you counted the one semester of power yoga that she took in college. She gazed wide eyed at the array of weapons ranging from the elegant to downright scary looking.

There were katanas and other blades of varying shapes, bo staffs, the three pronged weapons that the turtle Raphael used, along with many others that Avery couldn't name. She wheeled along until she came to the end of the rack where there were a row of nunchucks.

"Those babies are sweet huh?"

Avery jumped so hard she could have sworn her wheelchair left the ground. She whipped around at the voice and stared wide eyed at it's source. Chuckling behind her was Michelangelo, crouching up on the railing that ran around the upper level of the sewer. With minimal effort he slid down the railing and flipped to the ground, barely making a noise despite the fact that he was giant turtle.

"Tada!" he exclaimed before trotting over to stand in front of Avery.

The young woman was still somewhat shocked at Mikey's sudden appearance and as he approached she automatically grabbed the wheel of her chair.

The turtle noticed though and seemed to get the hint, stopping several feet away.

"Sorry if I scared ya." he said, his smile fading slightly and he self consciously rubbed the back of his neck.

Avery shook herself and forced her hand to let go, "No it's...alright. Just startled me that's all."

There were a few moments of silence in which Michelangelo looked around as if searching for some subject of conversation to latch onto.

Avery did the same though she was looking more for a reason to get back to her closet of a room. Her eyes wandered back over to the rack of weapons and noticed that a pair of nunchucks were missing along with several other empty spaces. She looked back over and saw that the weapons seemed to be on the turtle's waist.

"You use those things?" she finally asked softly.

At this the turtle's face lit up and he promptly removed the weapons from his belt with a flourish.

"Yep! Been using them ever since I could walk. Master Splinter taught us all how to use different weapons. 'Course, I got the best ones." he said with a smirk.

With that he lept forward onto the center of the carpeted area, the nunchucks swinging at a sudden rapid pace. Mikey began leaping and flipping in a complicated series of moves while continuously spinning his weapons around his head.

Avery had to admit that despite her wariness she was somewhat impressed by how well the turtle handled the weapons.

As the turtle continued, the moves progressively got more and more complicated and the young woman couldn't help but be entranced by the precision. There were several times that Avery thought Mikey would catch himself on his nunchucks or misstep but he always recovered. With one last leap the orange clad turtle came to a halt, barely out of breath as he straightened up and replaced his weapons in his belt.

"That was very cool." Avery said, slightly amused as Mikey gave an exaggerated bow.

Consequently, as the turtle stood up and took a step forward his foot caught on one of the many frayed rugs. Without an ounce of the gracefulness that he had just demonstrated moments before Michelangelo fell to the ground with a thud.

"Ow..." he said, his voice sounding muffled by the rug.

Suddenly, a soft burst of giggles echoed throughout the lair as Mikey picked himself up. He looked up in surprise to see Avery trying to hold in the bout of laughter. He himself couldn't help but grin as he readjusted his headband self consciously.

Avery took a deep breath and tried to compose herself, though she allowed herself to keep smiling. The bout of giggles had surprised her much as it had surprised the turtle. It had been a long time since she had found a reason to laugh.

"So uh yeah...that was fun." Mikey laughed, walking up to Avery who couldn't help but nod in agreement.

She was about to answer when her stomach gave a rather loud rumble and she put a hand to it in mild embarrassment. This time it was the orange banded turtle's turn to laugh and he pointed a thumb behind him.

"Suppose dudettes gotta eat. You like pizza?" Avery cocked and eyebrow but simply nodded as Mikey stepped up out of the training area. _  
_

_'Well then...'_ she thought to herself as she wheeled herself forward. _'This should be interesting.'_


	9. Chapter 9: Surprise Visitors

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey all! So just for future reference there might be a pause between this chapter and the next do to finals over the next week or so before WINTER BREAK! So I made this chapter a little longer just for that :) I hope you like it, let me know with a review! **

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Chapter 9: Surprise Visitors

Avery blinked rapidly to try and keep herself awake, though that was a feat in it of itself since she was only running on about four hours of sleep. At the moment she was sitting slightly behind the pizza box couch supposedly watching Michelangelo play some very violent video game.

Personally, she wasn't very interested in the game but it was hard to say no to the hyper active turtle when you had limited mobility. She had just managed to convince him that she didn't want to play the video game and would much rather then, as Avery looked up a very bright explosion went off as the turtle's character set off a grenade and charged through a hailstorm of alien bullets with a whoop.

"Take that alien scum!" Michelangelo exclaimed, mashing the buttons on the controller so that his character did flip across the screen.

Avery gave an amused huff just as there was the sound of a door opening. Her hands went for the wheels of her chair and she turned warily to see Donatello's lab door open. The purple banded turtle came out, holding some sort of jumble of wires in his right hand while screwing something in with a screwdriver in his left.

He seemed to be mumbling something to himself and didn't even glance at Avery or his brother. Instead his walked straight to the kitchen, put the screwdriver between his teeth before reaching up to grab a mug from one of the cabinets. Next, Don took the mug and filled it with what seemed to be coffee from an old coffee pot on the stove.

From there he followed his own path back to his lab before closing the door slowly behind him. Seeming completely enthralled in his own little world.

"Well then..." Avery muttered, glancing over at Mikey who continued to be absorbed by his video game as another series of explosions went off.

Taking that as permission, the young woman wheeled her way over to the lab door, curiosity flashing through her. Normally, she would have probably stayed away from a place that had a high risk of exploding. The nagging thought that this was where her test results were was the only thing that kept her going forward. She saw that the lab door was partially left open and intermittent flashes came from behind it as if someone was soldering. Every so often there was a loud snap or pop that went along with the flashes that would make the young woman jump.

Cautiously, Avery opened the door just wide enough to get through and peeked around it, her hands slightly shaky. She saw the dark silhouette of the turtle seated at a large workbench, his form outlined by the intermittent flashes that seemed to come from directly in front of him.

The young woman watched for a few more moments, all the while her will to continue forward dwindled away as she saw the flashes. She had never been known to go out of her comfort zone and didn't see a need to do so right at this moment...

_'Maybe I'll come back later...' _Avery thought.

She was just about to turn and leave, maybe go back to her little room when the door knocked loudly against her wheelchair, making her heart jump. She heard the sound of a chair sliding and turned to see Donatello turn around.

"Oh...hello." he said, sounding genuinely surprised by Avery's presence.

The young woman gave a nervous smile, "Hi...sorry if I'm disturbing. I was just leaving..." she jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

The turtle returned the smile, though his seemed much more genuine. "

"If you want you can come in...just fiddling around with this." he held up the same bunch of wires and scrap parts that he had been playing with when he got coffee.

Avery didn't know what else to say and simply rolled into the semi dark room, her eyes wandering the shelves that lined every wall. They were filled with everything from small motors to what looked like circuit boards and masses of wires. Here and there was the occasional complete machine like a small printer or clock, though they didn't seem to function.

"Are you feeling better?" Avery looked back over at the purple banded turtle who had turned back to the machine he was fiddling with.

The question surprised her, up until Mikey had actually approached her earlier that morning Avery assumed the turtles didn't like her any more then she liked them.

"I'm alright." she answered quietly, wheeling her way over to the work bench though she kept her distance.

The turtle made a noise as if he didn't quite believe her but didn't say anything else as he began to tighten another screw.

Avery cocked an eyebrow, "What?" she dared ask.

They was a moment of quiet in which Donnie finished tightening the screw before he glanced over at the girl with a slightly amused expression.

"Are you _really_ okay?"

It surprised the girl even more that the purple banded turtle seemed genuinely curious as to her condition. In the same way that Michelangelo seemed genuinely interested in being friendly. Slowly, the girl shrugged and shook her head.

"I'm alive aren't I?" she shrugged.

At this Donnie laughed, "At least there's that. Though I'm glad you're up an about, staying put in a wheelchair without getting adequate exercise can lead to muscle deterioration and depression." the turtle started talking more as he fiddled with his invention, gaining speed with every word.

Avery had to really concentrate to understand every word that started to pour from the turtle's mouth as he continued to talk about different medical conditions. At first she thought that maybe he was actually trying to tell her about certain things. But as the turtle began to go into how he could probably make a much cooler wheelchair did Avery realize...he was rambling.

The young woman had to admit, it was sort of nice to just listen to the words and not really respond. For the past month all she had to listen to was the TV and her cat, so hearing somewhat coherent speech was a nice change.

"It'd be neat to see what boosters could do an..." the turtle stopped mid sentence and seemed to realize that his mouth had gotten the better of him.

"Sorry!" he laughed slightly and pushed the glasses on his face up, "I don't get to talk about this too often."

Avery felt a smile unwillingly cross her face, "No, it was fine...you do know a lot about different things. Where'd you learn about medical and mechanical stuff...down here?"

Donatello looked thoughtful for a moment, obviously pleased to have someone to talk to as well who seemed somewhat interested.

"Well, Master Splinter taught us basic stuff in writing and math but left us to our own devices as we got older. Out of all of us I liked the technical and scientific stuff more and it made sense to me. So I read whenever we'd find a book in the trash or if someone lost one down here. Then whenever we needed something I could usually find it in someone's trash and fix it up." he shrugged, fully turning from his project to look at the dark haired girl.

"So you're the one that fixes everything around here?" Avery glanced around at the cluttered shelves, understanding starting to dawn on her as to why someone might want three broken toasters and two printers.

Don nodded, "I fix things, make things we need, play doctor if I have to. Though you've seen that I'm no professional. Sometimes I try to invent different things that make life down here easier."

Avery didn't know what to say to that though the turtle didn't seem like he expected a response. It was interesting to learn more about how the turtles and rat had lived down here in the sewers for so long. It also started to show that each of the brothers was slightly different from the other. They each had a personality.

The purple banded turtle smiled before looking back down to the small machine sitting on the desk.

"What are you making now?" Avery asked, not recognizing anything under the tangle of wires that somehow made sense to Donatello.

"It' s a motion sensor for outside the lair. Ever since we've moved our home I've had to revamp our security systems." he leaned forward and put down what looked like a pair of robotic goggles from on top of his head.

_'Security?' _Avery remembered how Splinter had explained how someone by the name of Eric Sacks had tried to capture them for Shredder...whoever that was.

She shook her head and resumed watching the turtle work on the small device in front of him. The young woman watched as with a surgeons precision Donnie began connecting many of the wires. Some of which were only the width of a needle.

"Damn..." he muttered suddenly as his finger slipped and there was a flash as the device sparked.

The turtle shook his hand which had apparently been shocked by the slip up and sat back, a annoyed look flashing across his face.

"Wish I had a third arm..." he grumbled before standing up and going over to one of the cramped shelves.

Avery watched as the turtle dug through the random supplies that occupied the space until he brought out a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Once more Donatello tried to attach the two wires, this time holding them together with the pliers before reaching over to grab a soldering gun. But once more the device sparked leaving the turtle thoroughly irritated as he dropped the pliers.

"Do...you need help?" Avery asked warily before she could stop herself.

What could she be getting herself into?

The turtle glanced at her and his irritation faded as he seemed to think.

"Can you hold the pliers steady while I solder them?"

The young woman nodded slowly, praying that she somehow didn't get electrocuted. Donnie reached over and picked up the fallen pliers and handed them to Avery, the young woman taking them as if they were poisonous.

"Just keep your arm steady and we'll be golden." the turtle said as he pointed to the wire that Avery should hold, an encouraging smile crossing his face.

"Grip the wire right where the rubber has been stripped."

She carefully gripped the small copper wire and clamped the pliers down, trying to keep her hand from shaking.

"Perfect." the turtle muttered as he brought the soldering gun down with a bright flash.

Avery closed her eyes as she waited for something bad to happen but as the flashing stopped she peeked open an eye. Looking down she saw that the two ends of the wire were now one seamlessly melded whole.

"Excellent!" Donatello said and smiled at Avery, "Thank you."

Then, in what seemed to be out of habit the turtle reached over and put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. Avery couldn't help it and instinctively flinched, pulling away as if she had been stung by a bug. The turtle seemed surprised by her reaction and opened his mouth to say something when Avery quickly back up her chair and turned.

"Sorry..." she said quietly and left the room as quickly as she could.

* * *

"One iced caramel coffee please." April smiled at the cute cashier behind the coffee shop counter as she handed him the money for her drink.

The young man handed the woman her change and returned the smile with a wink, "No problem."

"That'll be right up."

The woman sighed and appreciated the normality of the situation for once as she watched the bustle of everyday life.

She seemed to be one of the many bright young woman that went about their promising lives in New York City. People came and went from the shop, ordering a coffee and the occasional doughnut. An elderly man sat in the corner reading the afternoon paper.

It had been a good week since she had last seen her reptilian friends and over a month since they had defeated the Foot and Sacks.

Now the clan was struggling to get itself together and Eric Sack was doing the same with his company while fighting off criminal charges. Of course April was still out of a reporting job since she hadn't revealed the turtles but it was well worth it to her. At least she had an interview with a small company who needed a secretary/errand runner later that day.

"Here's your coffee." the same cute guy behind the counter said with a brilliant smile a few minutes later.

"Thanks." April smiled back and took the coffee, noticing that there was writing on the side of the cup as she exited the shop.

It was a series of numbers; a phone number.

"Vern would be appalled." she muttered but grinned at the same time.

The camera man had subsequently been fired from the new company as well since he (along with Michelangelo's help) had trashed two company cars within a week. He had found a new job at an antique store though and was doing well enough for himself.

April took a sip of her coffee as she turned down a small side street that was a shortcut to her now empty apartment. A week after the incident with Sacks her apartment mate, Taylor, had moved back with her parents because she, _"Needed some space." _

April wasn't really complaining but the increase in her bills wasn't helping since she was still looking for a job. With a sigh the young woman walked up the three flights of stairs that led up to her apartment before rummaging through her purse for her keys.

She was about to push the key into the lock when the door moved inwards slightly.

It was already open.

Immediately, April felt the hair on her neck stand on end. She remembered locking the door that morning before she left so what was it doing open?

_'Maybe Taylor came back to get something?' _she thought to herself as she silently pushed the front door the rest of the way open.

April listened carefully and looked for some sort of weapon, her heart thumping in her ears. She grabbed the umbrella sitting on the corner and put her purse and coffee to the ground as she slowly walked forward. There was a soft thump somewhere ahead and the woman froze, her grip tightening on her 'weapon'.

"Taylor..." she whispered as she turned the corner to go into the living area, seeing no one.

"Nope, tha' was a good guess though." April whipped around at the voice and hoisted her umbrella up, ready to strike.

She was about to swing when she saw who was standing behind her.

"Raph!?" she growled, seeing the turtle's face turn up in a smirk.

"Nice to see ya to sunshine." he said sarcastically, glancing at the still upraised umbrella.

April rolled her eyes and for good measure whapped the red banded turtle on the shoulder before throwing the umbrella onto a chair.

"Hey! Wha' was that for?" Raph's huffed as April went back to get her bag and coffee, looking humorously offended.

"For you sneaking into my home!" she said back, trying to hide her own smirk.

As scared as April was by the turtle's sudden appearance she was glad to see one of them again. As nice as normal was she was never one for the ordinary things, they weren't nearly as fun to deal with.

"I thought we were family?" Raph followed the young woman into the kitchen and she turned to look at Raph with a raised eyebrow.

"Family doesn't sneak into other family's houses. They call ahead or at least knock on the door."

At this the red banded turtle simply shrugged as his smirk came back, "I knocked on da window. No one was home so it's your fault that cha don't lock ya windows."

April sighed before putting her stuff on the kitchen table, "I'm on the third floor, I shouldn't have to lock my windows."

Raphael gave a chuckle before glancing around the kitchen as if he realized that he was actually inside a dwelling place outside of a sewer.

"So this is your little pad huh?" he turned to look at the living area, not seeming impressed.

April nodded, "Yeah, you're lucky that my apartment mate moved out. She would have freaked is she saw you."

"What I woulda paid ta see dat." the turtle laughed.

The young woman rolled her eyes in good humor before sitting down and sipping her coffee.

"So what are you doing up here Raph? Where are the others?" April asked, pulling her hair up.

The red banded turtle's good mood shifted at this, his smile vanishing almost instantly. He leaned back against the counter, making it creak.

"Needed ta get outta there for a bit. Git some fresh air ya know." he almost mumbled, crossing his massive arms.

April gave turtle a look, fully aware that this wasn't the entire truth. Raph didn't say anything for a few moments and refused to look at his friend, resembling something like a mad child. Finally, after the silence had gone on for a solid minute April huffed.

"Raph...what happened? If something bad happened I want to know."

The turtle gave a small growl as he rolled his eyes obviously not enjoying being scolded.

"It's nothing bad...just frustratin'." he sighed.

April nodded, "Okaaay...and?"

The turtle gave another growl before shooting the woman a dangerous look, "Ya ain't my parent April so stop actin' like it."

Silence followed this comment as both Raphael and April stayed in their positions with their arms crossed. Both seeming perfectly content to sit in this state of perpetual bullheadedness. The turtle glaring a hole in the ceiling while the woman sat staring in expectation with a raised eye brow. Finally, Raph sighed and his stony expression faded.

"Shell you're stubborn!"

April smiled briefly before getting serious once more, "I learned from the best...Now what's wrong?"

The red banded turtle shook his head before looking back over at his friend, trying not to get too worked up.

"It started two days after the big fight we had with ol' bucket head. Leo had come home an' said that he needed ta show us all somethin'. Next thing I know there's some half dead girl in the sewer." he started off, recounting the day that they had found Avery.

He continued by quickly running through how the girl had woken and how she had randomly gotten worse and had to be taken to a hospital. From there Raph told of how she had come back after a month for some reason that he hadn't stayed around to find out.

"Whatever she wants I don't need to be messin' around in...The others got it covered." he said the last part in a mutter.

For a few moments April sat in quiet contemplation, trying to put together the pieces that Raphael had just placed before her. It was odd to think that someone besides Vern and herself now knew about the turtles and Splinter, though with the increased activity they had above ground she wasn't necessarily surprised.

"You didn't stick around to find out what she needed?" April finally asked, not all the sure why Raph seemed so worked up.

"Nope! Left last night and haven't gone back yet. Hopefully she's back ta her nice little life." he said with indifference.

The dark haired woman shook her head but didn't respond, at least she had gotten this much out of the normally reclusive turtle. She was about to ask another question when a knock came outside the kitchen, making April jump slightly.

"Uh-oh." Raph straightened up and his hands went to the sai at his side.

The young woman stood and put a hand on his shoulder, "Just relax...it might just be a girl scout or something. Just stay out of sight."

Raphael laughed, "I'm a ninja, that's my job."

April walked out of the kitchen/living area and took a breath before walking up to her door and opening it. She had been expecting some sort sales person, girl scout, or maybe even a religious group looking for donations but not an empty hall.

There was no one there.

"Hello?" April said softly, looking down the deserted hallway before shutting the door.

The knock came again but this time the woman realized that it wasn't coming from the front door it sounded like it was coming from the...window. She whipped around and looked out the large window the was behind the living room chair, her mouth forming a perfect 'o' as she saw who hung outside.

"Leo?"


	10. Chapter 10: Comfort Zone

TMNT 2014:

**Hey guys! Sorry for the delay but I finally got this chapter up :) Sorry for wait but I hope you can forgive me! I hope you all had a great holiday season and New Year. Let me know in a review! God bless :)**

* * *

Chapter 10: Comfort Zone

"April!" Michelangelo exclaimed as the lair entrance opened, revealing the woman along with Leonardo and Raphael coming in from the sewers.

She smiled at the youngest turtle came over and almost crushed her in a hug,"Hey, Mikey." she said, as the turtle stepped back and looked behind her.

"You found Raph too!" he asked, inclining his head towards the red banded turtle who was standing back slightly as if he felt unwelcome in his own home.

April nodded, "He sorta found me but yeah. He told me about what's going on down here with your new friend. Leo mentioned that you all though that her talking to me might help her get acclimated better?"

Michelangelo sighed, "Yeah, its been interesting. She actually just went back into her room...looked upset."

At this Leo looked up as he came over, his brow furrowed as he heard what his younger brother had said.

"Did something happen?"

The orange clad turtle shrugged, "Dunno, she had gone into Don's lab. I'd ask him bro."

April and Leonardo shared a glance before turning to walk towards the lab's door just when it opened. As if on que Donatello came out with a puzzled look on his face as he adjusted the glasses on his face. He turned and looked over the knew arrivals, eventually noticing the new arrival.

"April!" Don said with a smile, surprise crossing his face at the young woman's appearance.

"Hey Donnie," the woman replied, trying to seem pleasant.

The purple clad turtle's gaze moved behind April to look at Leo, who came up behind her. His light eyes shining with concern.

"Did something happen? Mikey says that the girl hasn't come out of her room since coming out of your lab." he asked, glancing at the covered doorway.

Donatello's face fell and he pushed his glasses up on his face before answering.

"I'm not sure what set it off but she had actually been with Mikey for a few hours before she came into the lab. We just kinda talked for a bit...then when I was having difficulty soldering the new motion sensor together she actually helped then..."

There was pause in which Don took a breath but was quickly interrupted by a panicked outburst from Leonardo.

"Please tell me that you didn't electrocute her Don!" Leo exclaimed.

The purple clad turtle scowled, "No! I'd never...just listen Leo!" he said with a withering look at his older brother, who seemed to gain his composure once again.

"She helped me fix the sensor and...well I just did this." he demonstrated putting his hand on April's shoulder.

"She sort of freaked out."

April glanced down at the green, three-fingered hand before looking over at the darkened corner of the room where the covered doorway sat. She was no psychologist and had no idea out of the hundreds of different reasons this girl could be freaking out. She _was _surrounded by giant walking, talking turtles...

* * *

_'Why?'_ Avery thought to herself as she sat in her small room, trying to convince herself that she really wasn't hiding.

_'Why do they scare me so much?!' _she demanded of herself but no explanation came to mind and she self consciously wrapped her arms around herself.

The young woman sat in the semidarkness, trying to calm her still pounding heart and her hand crept up to feel the bumps on the side of her neck. To her horror it felt like there were more of them than there had been a day before. Avery shivered and took her hand back, feeling fear knot up her stomach. Instead her arms crept around herself as she hugged her shoulders. She normally wasn't one to be the one to have a panic attack.

Yes, she would sometimes be squeamish or afraid but what Avery was feeling right then was far more powerful then being frightened, she was thoroughly terrified to be near the turtles. It had dissipated when she had hung around Michelangelo but he hadn't actually touched her. It was as soon as Donnie's hand had contacted her shoulder the fear had come back with a vengeance.

The sudden sound of voices aroused Avery out of her almost comatose state and she slowly unwrapped her arms from around herself. The young woman tried to listen carefully to the voices but they were speaking in hushed tones so Avery could only make out murmers. It did surprise her that there was a new voice, that of a woman.

She tried to make out what the voices were saying once before but they had already died down and were replaced with what sounded like footsteps. Avery tensed, not wanting to try and explain what had happened earlier to Leonardo or Splinter. But the steps stopped right outside of the doorway.

"Hello?" Avery's eyes widened as she heard the voice of a young woman.

"Ye...yes?" she answered quietly, her voice shaking slightly.

"Hey...my name is April O'Neil. I'm a friend of the turtles." the voice seemed relieved as the woman continued to introduce herself.

"Would I be able to come in?"

Avery's confusion deepened, _'So someone else does know about these things.'_

"Alright..." the young woman said, the shakiness fading from her voice.

Slowly, the curtain moved aside and a slim, dark-haired woman around Avery's age stepped through. She smiled kindly as she looked up into her face with green eyes.

"Hello." she said softly and held out a hand.

Carefully, Avery shook hands and tried to smile back, though she wasn't all that successful. She watched as April straightened up and her eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of the wheelchair, she didn't say anything though.

"So you're a friend of these turtles?" Avery asked and April nodded with an almost embarrassed shrug.

"Yeah...more like family but that's a long story. But I have to say I'm a bit more interested in how you came to meet them." the woman walked over to sit on the edge of the cot.

Avery turned and felt the apprehension in her stomach dissipate slightly at the prospect of talking to an actually human being.

"It's weird to think that someone else knows about these things." Avery said softly, folding her hands in her lap.

April nodded with a smile but allowed the other woman to continue.

"Well..they actually rescued me after I had been hit by part of the collapsing building a month or so ago. They patched me up before taking me to a hospital." she started off, fiddling with her hands in her lap.

"I had almost convinced myself that it was some sort of dream when two days ago I found these …" Avery pulled her messy hair back to reveal the scale-like bumps that ran down her neck.

At this the woman's eyes went wide as she looked at the bumps, torn between surprise and curiosity. This was something totally new for April.

"I came down here to try and get some answers but right now they don't know what's causing the scales. Donatello's running some sort of test that will take another five days or so..." she finished.

There was a long moment of contemplative silence in which Avery felt relief flood through her as her story came out. It felt good to be able to finally talk to someone who wasn't green and scaly.

"I'm still trying to convince myself this isn't a bad dream..."

April cocked her head slightly, sympathizing with Avery. It definitely was a lot to take in especially for someone who seemed content with a normal life as Avery seemed to be.

"It is strange to think that giant mutant turtles are living down here. That's no reason to be afraid though."

Avery shrunk back slightly, "Who...who said that I was afraid!" she snapped, not meaning to sound mean but the sudden turn in conversation made the memories from earlier resurface. The woman seemed surprised at this sudden outburst but not undeterred. If anything this seemed to fuel her urge to continue the conversation. She took a breath trying not to get defensive of the turtles quite yet, they were her family though and April didn't like how Avery seemed to think of them.

"What's your name?"

"...Avery..." she said rather grudgingly.

April nodded, "Avery. Those _'things'_ as you put it aren't just animals or monsters. They're only trying to help you."

At this Avery couldn't help but feel slightly angry. She knew that the turtles were trying to help but how could she just act like they were normal. How could anyone just accept that these turtles were normal?!

"Look, I am grateful for what these guys have done and I'm trying my hardest to show that. They saved me life twice and are helping find out what's wrong with me! But I can't help how I feel, it's not natural!"

There were a few moments of silence in which April looked at the young woman in surprise and Avery realized that this was the most she had spoken at once in almost a month. After a few seconds the young woman sighed and put her head in her hands, trying not to let the tears in her eyes show. There was shuffling and she tensed when she felt a hand on her shoulder, though this time she knew it was April.

April was wrestling with her own emotions, trying not to get irked at the fact that Avery seemed so immovable while at the same time making sure that she knew that they were only trying to help.

"I know that this is tough...but I promise that they aren't as scary as they seem Avery." she said softly.

Avery looked up and took a breath, not sure what she was feeling at the moment. All she was sure of was that she wanted to go home and forget that anything ever really happened. At this point April knew that the girl was the one that would have to make the decision whether or not to accept the turtle's help or not.

She couldn't force her to make friends with them. "If you ever need someone to talk to though I'm always around..." she added, with a smile which seemed to cheer Avery up somewhat. She was about to leave when she felt a hand on her wrist.

"I'll try..."

This made the woman smile and she nodded, "You can do it. Try to look past the scales." she laughed and then left, leaving Avery to figure out where she stood.

* * *

"So...is the dudette okay" Mikey asked as April reappeared from the behind the covered doorway, and she shrugged, giving a half smile.

"She's scared and unsure of whats going on, though you can't really blame her.

She's been through a lot." the woman started off, getting varied looks from each of the turtles.

Mikey nodded in agreement, Leo seemed to go deep into thought as if remembering how they had first found Avery. Donatello looked almost ashamed that he caused the young woman even more distress while Raph seemed to be trying his hardest to ignore the fact that they were talking about another human being.

"What she needs is proof that you aren't just mutants or creatures. Let her know that you aren't just all 'stoic ninjas'.." April gave a slight grin and used air quotes with the last two words.

At this all the turtles but Mikey seemed thoroughly confused and the young woman felt like she was running in circles.

"Let her get to know you guys!" she finally sighed, crossing her arms.

"Say hi, try to make her feel welcome. Sort of what Mikey and Don was doing earlier except for the whole her freaking out part." she jerked a thumb at the orange-banded turtle who smiled brightly.

Leonardo sighed and shook his head, seeming almost amused at the prospect that his friend had just set before them.

"And if that doesn't work?" he finally asked, crossing his own arms over his plastron.

April raised an eyebrow, "Don's running a test to try and figure out what wrong with her right? You'll just have to deal with it until then." she finished, feeling like a parent with four particularly stubborn children.

At this the turtles seemed to accept that this was something that couldn't be ignored for too much longer, though they seemed wary of their new fate.

"We'll try April!" Mikey said, glancing at his brothers as he said it.

There was a muttered grumble of agreement and the huddle seemed to break up as Donnie and Raph started to go about their own tasks.

"You want a guide back home?" Leo asked, gesturing to the lair door.

The young woman nodded, her mind still going over what had just happened and praying that something good would come of it. As April and Leo walked towards the door they passed Raphael and the woman put a hand on his massive shoulder, stopping him.

"Raph...I know that out of everyone you're not a fan of this situation..."

A grunt was her only reply but April kept going.

"But can you at least try?"

Again a short grunt before the hulking turtle walked off towards his room. Leaving April to follow Leo out of the lair.


	11. Chapter 11: Listening

TMNT:

**Hey all! Hope you're doing well :) It looks like I finally finished this good ole' chapter, I never knew college could be so busy *insert sarcasm here.* Anyway it's up now and I'd love to know what you think! Reviews are always appreciated, God bless! **

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Chapter 11: Listening

Avery spent a good portion of the rest of the night sitting on the mattress staring at the piece of fabric that covered the doorway. She remembered what April had said but simply couldn't muster the will to go through with it.

The issue wasn't just that she was afraid of the turtles; they were slightly scary in appearance but it wasn't their looks that freaked the young woman. It was like when a person looks at a spider. There isn't any rational reason to fear it, the person just has the innate fear of the creature. It was the same with the turtles for Avery.

It wasn't until she caught her eyes drooping did Avery realize that she was actually very tired and unwillingly let loose a wide yawn.

_'If I am going to at least try to be friendly I should get some sleep…'_ she reasoned with herself and slowly laid down, curling up as much as she could with her legs.

At first she lay just staring at the blank wall opposite her until very slowly Avery drifted off into a deep sleep, her exhausted body not giving her any other choice.

...

The next morning Avery woke with a start as sat up with a gasp, like someone who had been drowning. It took several seconds to recognize her surroundings but even after that her chest rose and fell like she had just run a race.

The blurry dregs of her dreams pulling away faster than Avery could remember what they had been about. After another few seconds the young woman caught her breath and gave up chasing the remnants of her dreams. Letting the trailing bits of them fall away like dead leaves in the wind.

Avery looked back up and saw that outside her room it still seemed dim out and she thought that it must be fairly early in the morning. For a moment the woman considered trying to fall back asleep but dismissed it at the prospect of being able to maybe go out of her room without any of the turtles being up and about.

With a little effort Avery pulled her wheelchair over and lifted herself up, pleased that it was getting easier to maneuver in and out of it. She didn't even bother trying fix her obviously messy hair as she pulled the curtain aside and looked cautiously outside.

It was silent and most of the lights were put out around the lair. Avery felt a surge of relief at the prospect of being able to go around by herself. She didn't like being cooped up for so long so being able to move around was a blessing.

_'Maybe…I could go out and come back before they even notice.'_ Avery thought to herself and looked almost longingly at the closed lair entrance.

Slowly, the young woman rolled out from behind the curtain and went on almost the same path that she had the day before when Mikey had introduced himself except that instead of going down into the training area she went past it towards the door.

Avery kept as quiet as possible and started to bring her arm up to try and reach the pipe that would open the door but saw that it was just out of reach. With a frustrated sigh she tried to lift herself up but the pipe was only just brushed by the tips of her fingers.

"Damn…" she muttered, feeling a frustrated growl in her chest.

The young woman turned around and felt at a loss as for what she could do besides maybe go looking for something to eat for breakfast. The last thing that she had eaten was left over pizza that Mikey had given her for lunch the other day. Avery was just passing by the training floor and happened to look over, making her heart freeze.

Leonardo was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. His eyes were closed and his hands were clasped peacefully in his lap as his shoulders rose and fell at a slow measured rate. A serene look plastered on his face.

Avery tried to keep her breathing low as she rolled backwards carefully and started to turn back around. She turned slowly without a sound and began to head back to her room when a soft comment made the young woman stop in her tracks.

"You're more than welcome to stay."

Avery froze and twisted around to see that the blue masked turtle had cracked open one of his eyes while holding his meditative position.

"I didn't mean to disrupt you…" Avery said quietly, wringing her hands nervously.

The turtle gave a slight smile and closed his eye, "You didn't disrupt me at all. Though, the next time you want to try and leave it would be best to tell someone."

Avery felt her mouth open slightly in surprise, "How'd you…"

"How'd I know?" the turtle finished her question.

The young woman nodded and tentatively rolled forward, coming up to the edge of the training area. Leonardo relaxed his position and took a deep breath before he opened his eyes and looked up at Avery.

"Meditation lets one observe their surroundings without the use of sight. It enhances the other senses and calms the mind so that even the smallest things become apparent." He explained.

Avery stared, slightly confused as to how the whole thing worked but didn't question it. She more upset at the fact that even this early she wasn't allowed to be alone. The young woman looked on as the turtle stretched his arms above his head and cracked his knuckles. She was about to turn around and leave but April's words echoed in her mind.

**_'I know that this is tough…but I promise that they aren't as scary as they seem.'_**

Avery took a deep breath and straightened up, suppressing the intense urge to leave.

"You do this every morning?" she asked softly

The turtle nodded, a bemused look crossing his face at the sudden question "I finish up around this time before breakfast. Then I start my other exercises."

"You get up earlier than six!?" Avery's eyes went wide which earned her another grin from Leo.

"Yes, I get up around four thirty."

The young woman simply stared in shock. Avery had to admit that she felt a grain of respect now for this turtle. He seemed very dedicated to being a warrior if nothing else.

At this Leonardo stood in one fluid motion before coming up from the training floor, giving Avery a respectful distance as he passed her.

"You want some breakfast?"

The young woman hesitated as she considered staying longer with the turtle, her fear gnawing at the back of her mind while hunger gnawed at her stomach. Finally though, her stomach won out and she nodded slowly.

"Sure."

* * *

Leo carefully sat down at the old wooden kitchen table. He watched the girl across from him eye the rice that he had made warily and hid a smile as he began to eat his own meal. The turtle was trying not to immediately try to address the issue at hand of Avery not wanting to be around him or his brothers. Though he was surprised at the girl's own attempt at being social.

Normally, if there was an issue Leo liked to deal with it right away and have things in order as soon as possible. It was his job as leader to settle disputes and put things right. So doing the opposite and taking things gently was something he had to get used to. Tact was something that he didn't get to practice much with four brothers.

"So before everything happened what did you do?" he found himself asking as he finished his breakfast.

Avery seemed surprised at the sudden question and at first Leo wasn't sure if that was a good question to ask at first.

_'Maybe she won't answer.' _ He thought to himself as Avery fiddled with the spoon she had.

Leonardo watched as the woman put the spoon back into the uneaten bowl of rice and looked down at her lap.

"I was an assistant at a small printing company. I'd do errands and help the mangers with paper work." She said after a moment, looking up slowly.

Leo felt a flicker of hope at the spark of conversation and continued forward.

"Did you go to school? You're pretty young to be living on your own." He asked putting his elbows on the table.

Avery nodded in a slightly embarrassed way, "I graduated school early with a business major last year and came to New York to find a job. I found one after a few weeks and moved here permanently."

"You lived somewhere else before work?"

Leonardo was fairly interested in the idea of living outside of New York City. He had barely ventured outside the sewers let alone outside the city. So hearing about anywhere else was always exciting.

"Yeah." Avery started, getting an almost longing look in her eyes.

"I lived down in Virginia before coming up here. My mom's still down there along…along with my dad and step brothers." She finished, hesitating on the last part.

"Your father isn't with you?"

Avery hesitated once more and simply answered, "No."

Leo observed the change in the girl's demeanor at the mention of her father and decided it would be best to leave a sore subject alone. Especially with the slight break though of conversation still in the balance.

There were a few moments in silence in which Avery took a small bite of rice before replacing the spoon in the bowl. She seemed to gather herself and took a deep breath before looking up at Leo.

"You…you all have lived down here a long time?"

The turtle nodded, glad that the girl seemed to be trying to carry on the conversation.

"Yeah. My brothers and I were raised by Splinter down here ever since we were little." He glanced around the lair with a slightly troubled look.

"Though this place itself is rather new."

Avery nodded, knowing that the turtles had said something about moving from the wrecked place that she vaguely remembered when she was injured.

"That Sacks guy…he's the one that made you have to move?" she asked softly.

Leo made a decided effort not to let his distaste show through as he nodded and answered, "Yes. Sacks and a man called the Shredder. They destroyed it in an attempt to cover their tracks."

Avery saw the anger that flickered briefly in the turtle's eyes and didn't want to push the subject, though the new name of 'Shredder' sparked interest in the girl. But instead of pursuing the subject she simply started eating the remaining rice in the bowl in front of her.

It wasn't what she was used to in a breakfast but at least it was food.

For a little while the two sat in silence as the young woman finished her food with Leo looking over the quiet lair. It was just as Avery was finishing up the rice did Leo stand and let out a short breath. He put his bowl in the sink that was already filled with a mix of strange assortment of mismatched dishes and then made his way back over to the training floor.

_'How can he train that much?' _she thought to herself as she watched the turtle take two of the deadly looking katanas off of the wall.

Next, Leo took a stance in the center of the floor and stepped back. Slowly, he raised the blades one slightly further forward then the other as a look of intense concentration came over his face. Suddenly, like a rubber band being snapped the turtle struck with a sharp jab forward. In a fluid set of motions he blocked, kicked, and spun at an invisible enemy in front of him.

It was similar to Michelangelo's display with his nunchucks except it held more grace and control. The flashing silver blades reminisced of lightning bolts as they cut through the air with superhuman speed.

Avery watched in amazement as Leonardo spun to the side and gave a final slash downwards, his blades held at the ready once more. He stood statue still for a few more second before slowly straightening up and sliding his katanas into the sheaths on his back. The young woman rolled over and continued to watch as the turtle widened his stance with the same concentrated look and raised his hands this time.

Instead of using his weapons Leo punched and kicked with his eyes locked on the horizon. Avery could almost imagine the enemies falling to the ground as he jabbed a fist forward before leaping back into a flip. In a matter of minutes the turtle had covered almost the entire floor as he paused and adjusted his stance.

He did this another few times, going from simple to very complex moves that involved minute changes that Avery almost couldn't see. This went on for almost another fifteen minutes, all the while the young woman watched in raptured fascination.

It was after the most skillful display that involved jumping up while kicking at the air did Leo come to a halt, his shoulders rising and falling as he caught his breath. He slowly straightened up and did a low, slow bow that seemed to signal that training with the invisible partner was over.

Out of reflex Avery suddenly found her hands coming together and she clapped softly, eliciting a surprised glance from Leonardo and he turned to face her.

"Oh…" she said as she realized that she was probably interrupting the turtle's concentrating.

"Sorry…" she murmured, drawing back.

The masked turtle shook his head, "No it's fine! I'm glad you liked it, I guess I'm just no used to having people watching."

He gave an encouraging smile and Avery tried to return it, still trying her hardest not to just turn and leave.

"I was almost finished anyway." The turtle continued, rolling his shoulders before going down to sit in the middle of the floor once more.

Avery slowly made her way over and saw that the turtle seemed to be preparing to meditate once more.

"You meditate a lot." She commented more to herself.

The turtle gave an amused huff as he settled down, "It centers the mind and tends to let me focus better for the rest of the day." He closed his eyes slowly.

Leo considered a sudden thought that struck him, wondering if perhaps he shouldn't say it but decided that it was worth a shot.

"You're welcome to try it out."

Avery cocked her head as she considered the offer, knowing that already she had done a lot to get outside of where she was comfortable. She still itched to go back to her room and wait out the remainder of time before she could find out what was going on with the scales on her neck.

She rubbed her neck absentmindedly but felt a spark of determination as she almost gave into the temptation. A small voice protested in her mind, saying that she still had another three days until she could even do anything about her 'condition'.

"Sure." The word left the woman's mouth before she could do anything and the turtle's eyes blinked open in what seemed to be surprise.

Avery rolled her chair down onto the training floor so that she was only a couple of feet away from Leo.

"What do I do?" she asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

The turtle shifted slightly so that he was sitting across from the girl and carefully put his hands on his knees.

"Just get into a comfortable position and close your eyes." He started off.

Avery took a breath before closing her eyes, carefully placing her hands in her lap as the world went dark.

"Now just pay attention to your breathing and listen to what's around you. Let yourself calm down." Leo said and the young woman took another breath, this time letting it out slowly.

Avery felt the nervous thumping of her heart and tried to take even breaths to slow it. She let the quiet noises around her to fade in and out. At first all she felt was strange and foolish. The concept of simply sitting and listening was something forty-year old women did in a yoga class, not something Avery would normally consider doing.

But as the quiet went on and she listened closer, her heartbeat began to slow and she felt like she could hear more sounds come out of the woodwork. The clatter as a pipe somewhere overhead pumped water, the rumble of what could have been a subway somewhere in the distance, even what sounded like footsteps.

"Hey guys."

Avery jumped at the voice and turned suddenly to see Donatello standing just outside of the training area. He seemed slightly nervous as he glanced awkwardly in Avery's direction.

There was a deep intake of breath from Leonardo, "What's wrong Donnie?"

He continued to keep his eyes shut though, not seeming disturbed by his brother's appearance at all.

"Nothing's wrong, I was wondering actually if I could talk to…Avery."

The girl blinked in surprise and turned to face the turtle before her. He flashed a nervous grin before clasping his hands together.

"Um…sure." She said after a moment and started rolling her way up out of the training floor.

Don turned and walked slightly away from his brother and Avery raised and eye brow, the sudden realization that this turtle was more afraid of her than she was of him.


	12. Chapter 12: In-Fighting

TMNT 2014:

**Hey, sorry for the long wait. Finished up my midterms and just got off Easter Break so I had time to write this :) I hope you all like it! Love to hear what you have to say. - Rin**

* * *

Chapter 12: In-Fighting

"Sir are you sure about this?" the driver of the sleek black car asked, stopping in front of the hospital building.

Eric Sacks sighed, "Yes, don't worry I won't be long."

With a deep breath the man stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk, "Pull round and I'll be out in a few minutes." He told the driver.

The man nodded, pulling the car forward while Sacks looks irritated at the busy front doors of the hospital. So far this week he had personally visited four other people on behalf of his company to try and settle the lawsuits against him while putting off the police investigations.

This was the last spot on his list before he had to try and figure out what to do as far as paying off the suits. Swiftly, the man strode through the main doors and headed up to the front desk, his shoes clacking on the smooth tile floor.

"May I help you?" a large woman at the desk asked, her dark eyes peering up at Sacks suspiciously.

He tried to flash his most winning smile as he leaned an elbow against the desk.

"Yes, I'm Eric Sacks and I was wondering if I could find out about a claim filed against me by this hospital?"

The dark skinned woman's dark eyebrow went up.

"The hospital does not file claims on behalf of our patients, we simply run it through their insurance and they do the rest. I'm sorry sir but I cannot give you our patient's information." She said matter-of-factly, her nails clicking away at a computer.

Sack's brow furrowed, "They how am I supposed to talk to the individual?"

The woman didn't look at him, "That isn't the hospital's concern sir."

At this, the winning smile vanished and was replaced by a sneer.

"Listen, I've been at this for weeks now. I need to find this patient of yours. Can't you give me a name or address?!"

At this, the clicking keyboard stopped and the woman fully turned to face Eric Sacks, her mouth set in a flat, stubborn, line.

"Sir. That is confidential patient information. We. Don't. Do. That." She stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sacks growled and clenched his fists, resisting the urge to slam them onto the desk. He noticed the strange looks he was getting from passersby and the stubbornness of the woman in front of him. He knew it wasn't worth it.

"Thank you…ma'am." He grumbled, straightening his tie before turning on his heel and storming out of the hospital.

He signaled the same sleek back car and slammed the door as he got in, his fingers tapping angrily against his leg.

"No luck sir?" the driver asked, trying not to let his amusement show.

Sacks simply let out a breath, "They were…strict on confidentiality."

The driver gave a single puff of laughter before turning back to silently watching the road.

Eric stared out the tinted window, his thoughts going through the now narrow list of scenarios. He could simply pay the insurance and risk having to do the same to all the other cases, he could fight the lawsuits in general which would leave him with an almost as large lawyer bill, or he could do a little digging.

A resigned huff came from him as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I guess digging it is…"

* * *

Avery stared up in surprise at the turtle before her, trying to organize her thoughts as the purple banded turtle stood…waiting. Moments before, Donnie had apologized for what happened the night before. In total honesty the girl had forgotten about the situation and felt guilty for not considering the turtle's feelings.

"No…I mean…its fine!" she blabbered quickly, unsure of what to say or do.

"I was the one who messed up…you don't have to…"

At this the turtle's solemn demeanor lightened and he smiled as Avery trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Well…" he laughed, "I'm glad that that's all settled then."

His dark brown eyes flashed to look behind the girl as Leo approached, a slightly amused look crossing his face before he went into another room.

It was the dull thud that drew Avery's attention though, along with what sounded like a sound of protest from Michelangelo. A few moments later both said turtle and Leo came out, Mikey seeming extremely grumpy.

"Dude…why…" he grumbled coming over to the kitchen table before slumping over with no grace what-so-ever.

"Come on Mikey, Splinter wants us to get back into training." Leo threw over his shoulder before going upstairs.

The younger brother groaned softly before looking up, his gaze landing on Avery and he sat up slowly.

"Oh…hey." He muttered, rubbing his face.

The young woman gave a slight laugh, "Morning. I assume that you've been out of practice?"

The orange clad turtle nodded, "With everything happening within the past few weeks, getting attacked and you showing up, has been messin' with our normal schedule like you wouldn't believe dudette." He yawned before cracking his knuckles.

Avery nodded, feeling a mutual empathy for the feeling of everything happening at once.

That's when a sudden, loud set of footsteps drew everyone's attention. Standing in the doorway was the hulking form of Raphael, his eyes glaring at the gathering around the kitchen table. The young woman felt all inhibitions return as the red banded turtle silently walked passed, rummaging through the cabinets.

Donnie and Michelangelo shared a glance before watching their brother silently (and aggressively) make himself a bowl of cereal. Without a word the turtle shoved everything away before turning to trudge over to the pizza box couch and thudding down to eat his food.

"He's in a great mood…" Donatello muttered sitting down across from Mikey, his brown eyes flashing behind his glasses.

Avery looked at the back of Raphael's head, confusion and uneasiness coming back in a wave. As far as she knew she had done nothing to upset the turtle. Yet, he treated her as if she were some sort of nuisance or enemy. The young woman was about to ask about it when the soft pad of footsteps attracted everyone's attention.

"Good morning Avery. I'm glad to see you out and about."

Avery turned and tried to smile at the humanoid rat that had appeared along with Leonardo. His dark eyes crinkled in a smile.

"M…morning." She stuttered.

The rat dipped his head before turning his attention back to the turtles.

"Today we will be venturing out into the sewers once more. So prepare yourselves my sons." He said sternly, earning a slight groan from Michelangelo.

Slowly, the orange clad turtle followed as his brothers began to pack up and prepare to leave. Avery watched as the turtles grabbed weapons off of the training wall along other supplies.

"You guys aren't staying here?" Avery asked, looking at Donatello as he strapped a bo staff to his back.

The turtle shrugged, "Every so often we go out and train in the sewers."

The young woman nodded, feeling slightly relieved that she would probably have at least a little while to herself, and perhaps gain time to calm down again. There was still that slight nagging anxiety that she was trying not to give in to, though it was getting harder.

"Do you want to come and watch?"

Avery turned to look at Mikey, feeling her chest tighten slightly at the prospect of going back out into the sewers when she was already having issues controlling her fear here. Though she had to admit she was curious as to how the turtles trained.

"I…uh…" she stuttered, not meeting the turtle's blue gaze.

"Oh…I mean…you're, right uh…" Mikey watched the girl hesitate and rapidly waved his hands back and forth, making his brother's roll their eyes.

"What shell for brains means is that you don't have to if you don't want to."

Avery nodded, acknowledging the slight curiosity that tugged at her. She could withstand just a little longer of putting herself out there right…

* * *

Raph gazed across the dim space of the sewer, trying to ignore the annoyance burning at the back of his mind. He could feel the gaze of both his master's and their guest's gaze sweep over them.

"Hajime!"

Without hesitation he lept forward at the word, ducking at Donatello swept his staff upwards. He struck forward with his sai, bouncing off of the reinforced middle of the bo.

_'Geek has to tinker with everything…'_ the red banded turtle thought with a slight flash of humor.

He flipped back and set himself into a steady stance as his brother did the same, hoisting his staff as his glasses glinted. To their right Mikey and Leo went at it, their weapons jolting off of one another with metallic clangs.

With a growl Raph charged forward once more, eliciting a gasp from Avery who sat further back from the training in her chair.

The turtle couldn't help but roll his eyes and he caught Donnie's staff in the fork of his weapons.

_'Course she had ta come…' _he thought to himself, bemoaning the fact that the girl was even still involved with them.

It was so obvious that she thought they were freaks and disliked even being near them. Raph couldn't understand the reasons for trying to be nicey-nice when it would better than the girl leave ASAP.

It was then that he was tugged from his train of thought by Donatello wrenching his bo staff free and knocking it roughly against his side, making Raph stumble. He tried to regain his balance but over extended his reach to block another swing. That left his middle wide open for Donatello's kick that sent him sprawling back to the ground.

"Dammit!" he growled as he rolled backwards, feeling his brother's weapon whistle by his shell.

Blindly, he lashed out a leg and caught Donatello's ankle, sending the purple clad turtle to the floor. With a growl his jumped up and put a knee to his brother's plastron, lowering his sai to be level with the bridge of the glasses he was wearing.

"Yame."

Raph sat up, grumbling that he let himself get distracted not even bothering help his brother. Donatello pulled himself up with a disgruntled look, rubbing his chest from where Raphel had pinned him down. Behind them there was a similar scene except that Mikey was trying to squirm his way out from underneath Leo's foot. Only to be stopped by the tip of a katana being pointed at his face.

Avery watched with wide eyes as the four turtles stood up in a line in front of Master Splinter, both Donatello and Michelangelo looking disgruntled at their losses.

"Well done my sons. You fought well despite the long interruption to our training."

The turtles all gave a slight bow at their master's praise though, Avery noticed the flick of a gaze that Raphel flashed at her. Once more she frowned at the unwarranted show of anger but turned her attention back to Master Splinter, who had started to talk once more.

"Donatello. you fought very well but you need to take advantages when they appear, hesitation in a real battle is not as forgiving."

He nodded, "Hai sensei."

"Michelangelo, you need more focus my son. You have much potential but…"

The rat hesitated, his left ear suddenly flicking backwards as his brow furrowed in concentration. The sewer was silent as everyone looked to statue still rat, his eyes narrowed to black slits as both his ears flicked. The four turtles shared a look before turning back to Splinter who was concentrating on something that no one else could hear.

"Sensei?" Michelangelo finally broke the silence, waving a hand at his master.

The rat's ears shot up as he seemed to come to, his eyes darting to each of his sons.

"Someone is in the tunnels." He hissed suddenly and the sewer seemed to grow cold.

"Is it the Foot Master Splinter?" Leonardo asked, his hand going for one of his katanas.

The rat shook his head, "I do not know my son, but we must head back to the lair."

"But sensei! If the Foot are down 'ere then we can't let 'em near our home again!" Raphel growled, spinning his sais expertly.

Splinter seemed to think, "Raphel, we cannot allow the Foot to know that we are here in the first place. If…" he stopped for a second.

"If it is truly them. But I cannot tell for certain who it may be."

Raph seemed to grin, "So recon?"

The turtle's sensei sighed, "I will accompany three of you but one of you needs to bring Ms. Avery back and scout out our home."

The rat's black eyes flashed as he glanced over at the girl, who folded her arms over her stomach. She wasn't fond of having to be given an escort.

"Raphel."

The red banded turtle's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched as his Master pinned him in place with the same dark stare.

"Go back home and make sure that they have not beaten us there. Make sure Ms. Avery is safe as well."

"But Master Splinter I-"

"That is not a request Raphel." The rat barked, his tail snapping back and forth.

"The rest of you, this way." He looked over at Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo.

The three other turtles nodded and followed their Master, flashing glances at the silently fuming Raph before disappearing down the dim sewer tunnel. Within just a few seconds Avery was left sitting across from the hulking figure of Raph.

The calmness that she had been able to muster up around the other turtles melted away and the nervousness came back with a vengeance. What was Raph going to do? Was he going to yell or threaten her again?

She felt her eyes go wide as the turtle approached, his hands still clenched into fists. But before she could say anything he simply stomped right past her, going back the way that they had come from the lair, muttering something about babysitting. Avery turned her chair around and realized that the turtle wasn't going to wait for her.

"Hurry up!"

The growl came from up ahead as Avery pushed her wheelchair forward, her hands shaking slightly. Luckily, the turtle didn't seem too keen on getting back home and Avery was able to catch up, following only a few feet behind Raphel's shell.

The sewer was eerily quiet as they continued forward, though the tension could be felt coming off Raph in waves. Avery felt the same spark of irritation at the turtle's coldness and the unwarranted hostility. Why did he seem so much angrier then the others?

The two continued forward through the pipes until they came to a junction that led next to a channel of water. The young woman wrinkled her nose at the smell of moistness and prayed that she'd be able to wash the smell out of her clothes when she got a chance. With a sudden jolt Avery hit a patch of slippery floor and felt her chair start to slide and tip, just like when she had first come down to find the turtles.

"Oh dammit!" he yelped and plugged her nose in preparation to hit the water.

This time it never came.

With a wrench Avery was righted and she looked up to see that Raphel had grabbed the arm of her chair and righted it with a flick of his wrist.

"Th…thanks…" she panted, trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart.

The only acknowledgment that the turtle gave a snort of what seemed to annoyance as he turned back around and started walking once more as if nothing had happened.

The spark if irritation grew into a burning feeling in her chest as Avery stared at the turtle's back.

"What is your problem?!"

The words were out of Avery's mouth before she could stop them. They echoed down the sewer as the red banded turtle halted and turned to look at the young woman with a sharp glare.

"S'cuse me?" he grumbled taking a step back towards Avery.

She swallowed nervously but used the adrenaline already pumping through her veins to fuel her speech.

"Look, I don't expect five star service but can you at least stop treating me like some pest!? Ever since I dropped in here you've been looking at me like some animal." She almost shouted despite the shaking that had broken into her voice.

The turtle gave a bout of humorless laughter, "Oh, _I'm _the one who's been treatin' _you _like an animal?"

"How long was it you were hidin' in your little hole? Shivering like you'd been cornered by monsters!" he growled back, his amber eyes narrowing.

At this Avery felt taken aback, she hadn't realized that she'd really done anything wrong.

"If you haven't noticed I've been kinda in the middle of mutating!" she shot back in defense, indicating the scales that continued to spread on her neck.

"HA!" Raphel broke out into a snarl.

"Welcome to the show chica, you've been a mutant fo' what…a few days? Try being one fo' SEVENTEEN YEARS!"

The turtle's voice had risen to a yell and echoed down the sewer. At this Avery felt the little bit of bravery she had mustered vanished as she looked at the turtle before her, his shoulders heaving.

"I…" she stuttered, "I didn't…"

Raph snorted, "You didn't what? Realize tha' you ain't ever been rejected in your perfect little life?! Never been looked at like a freak!"

Avery sat back at that comment, feeling like she had been stung. But the truth was undeniable, she didn't even realize that she was complaining about something that was a brutal reality for the turtles. And out of all of them Raphel had been the only one to really pick up on her selfishness.

"How bout you try hiding from everyone up there cause they don't know what you are sumtime!? Hiding cause they all think you look like a freak." Raphel pointed a finger accusingly at Avery, making her back up.

There was a silence that followed the last comment, replaced by the fizzling anger that resonated from the turtle. The young woman didn't know what to say as she rolled backwards, shame and fear making her feel like an ant under a boot.

On an impulse she wrenched her chair around and began wheeling in the opposite direction, fighting the tears that were forming in her eyes. Avery refused to cry in front of Raphel but at the same time felt like she didn't care about anything anymore.

Raph watched the girl turn and take off down the sewer, anger and frustration fueling his shaking limbs.

"Yeah, you run…go back to your own life." He muttered, turning to walk in the opposite direction, gaining a slight sense of satisfaction.

He continued on a few steps but as he went further and further away, a feeling of uneasiness set in. Much to his annoyance. Visions of his Master's disapproving looks flashed through Raphel's mind as he imagined them coming back to the lair with the girl long gone.

_'She deserved it!' _ He thought in his own defense.

The idea of the young woman getting lost in the maze of sewers or falling back into the rushing channel of water came to mind this time and Raph rolled his eyes, feeling like a babysitter with an unruly child.

"Pain in my ass…" he growled, stopping before slowly turning to jog down the side of the sewer.


	13. Chapter 13: Apologies

TMNT 2014:

**Look it's a miracle: an update! I'd love to know what you're thinking of these new chapters coming out :) Any thoughts, questions, concerns? Lemme know! Enjoy**

* * *

Chapter 13: Apologies

"How can that girl move so fast?" Raph scratched the back of his head in frustration as he turned another corner to see more plain old, empty sewer.

He trotted down the path next to the water, hoping that he didn't see a body float by. Luckily the water only seemed to contain bits of trash and a few leaves at the moment. Raph peered down another corner only to see that it ended in a brick wall and a grate filled with rushing water, nowhere for Avery to disappear to.

"Maybe she did just up and leave…" he muttered, about to turn around and go back home.

_'Cause I'm gettin' real sick of hide n seek.' _Raph thought, getting tired of having to be responsible for one annoying human.

"Dammit…stupid chair…shit…."

The turtle looked up as the string of curses continued, coming from up ahead. He grumbled to himself as he got closer to the soft muttering and felt as if he were about to tell off Mikey. Raphael turned the corner and had to stop himself from smirking at the scene before him.

Avery had been able to find one of the many manholes that led up and out of the sewer. At the moment she was currently trying to pull herself up the rungs of the ladder without the aid of her immobile legs. It also appeared that her wheelchair had tipped over in the process, leaving her to cling to the ladder in a ridiculous position.

"What da hell…" the turtle could help but chuckle, drawing the young woman's attention.

Her face screwed up into a snarl though the effect was lost with her blotchy face and severely shaking arms. It looked like she had been crying.

"Go away…" she grumbled with a stuffed nose, trying once more to pull herself up to the fourth rung of the ladder.

The turtle would have gladly turned and left if not for the nagging (and annoying) sense of duty that had somehow found its way into his consciousness.

"And wha' do ya think you're doing there?" he puffed, stepping up to the tipped over chair.

Avery didn't answer at first and simply continued to cling to the ladder rung. It wasn't until she had tried for the third time to reach the next rung did she relent and answer.

"I'm trying to get out of here! I'm sick of this stupid, stinking sewer and I'm sick of you guys!" she spat.

Raph rolled his eyes, "And how'er ya gunna do that? You can't even get cha self up the damn ladder."

Avery ignored him and continued to glare straight ahead, her arms shaking even more.

"And Splinter calls me stubborn…" he grumbled, righting the wheelchair before going over to stand next to the fuming woman.

"Look 'ere Gimpy. You look like we're the ones that inconvenienced you this whole time and have acted like ya deserve the world."

Avery's head shot up and she looked angrily at Raph, though she didn't disagree with what he was saying.

"Now tha' ain't a pretty truth but you need ta realize that this is your situation. Make the best of it."

It was strange, in the entire time that Avery been around Raphael he had barely spoken a word to her. Now, of all times, he decided to become quite the conversationalist.

The young woman looked back down, she knew what Raphael was trying to get out of her but she really didn't want to have to do it. The silence drew on and she realized that both she and the turtle could possibly be stuck here forever because of their stubbornness. As if to prove this Raph crossed his massive arms over his shell.

Avery sighed, trying to collect herself and closed her eyes as she fought the stubborn anger that was rising up.

"I…I'm sorry."

The words were soft but grudgingly said as the turtle uncrossed his arms, a light puff of laughter escaping from him.

Without a word Raph stepped up and pushed the manhole cover up, peeking through the opening.

"Well, least ya didn't pick one in the middle of da street." He muttered, pulling himself up through the hole.

Avery looked up in surprise, she had expected that Raph was going to drag her back to the lair or just leave her where she was. The young woman watched as the turtle pushed the thick cover aside and slowly pulled himself up through the hole.

"You want help Gimpy?"

The voice came from above and Avery looked up, squinting against the dim sunlight that was streaming through the manhole. She saw that Raph was learning through the hold with an out stretched arm.

Avery tried not to flinch back, that feeling of dislike rising up at the sight of the green, scaley skin.

_'How can he expect me to do this?! It's not my fault that I'm freaked out.' _ She thought to herself as she almost slipped off the rung of the ladder that she was clinging to.

"I can leave ya here too if you'd prefer." Raph grumbled, his face obscured by rim of the manhole.

Avery growled,"Fine!" before shutting her eyes as she shakily reached up.

She tried not to flinch when the rough hand grabbed her arm and hoisted her upwards. It was strange; Avery had almost expected the turtle's hand to be slimy or gross. It was indeed bumpy and rough, but was dry like sandpaper.

The young woman did yelp in surprise though at the ease of which she was pulled upwards. She was a relatively small human being but she still weighed about hundred pounds. Within seconds Avery was pulled up through the manhole and into what seemed to be a small alley as if she weighed no more than a paperweight.

The woman looked up and couldn't help but smile as she was sat on the concrete and looked up at the partly cloudy sky for the first time in what felt like in forever.

"Move ya legs." Raph said softly, lifting the solid manhole cover easily as a child would lift a Frisbee.

Avery pulled her numb legs out of the hole and watched as the turtle recovered it without retrieving her chair.

"What about my wheelchair?" she asked, feeling silly at just sitting on the ground uselessly with the looming turtle overhead.

Raphael smirked, "You ain't getting rid of me that easily Gimpy. Besides it don't fit through the hole."

Avery felt her stomach drop and she groaned, "Awesome…"

The turtle shrugged while eyeing the end of the alley, he seemed much more wary out in the open air.

"Make ya choice fast, I can leave ya or I take ya to your house."

Once more the young woman saw that the turtle was cornering her with two unpleasant decisions, but the choice was obvious. She couldn't drag herself back to her apartment and she didn't want random people coming over to ask what had happened if they saw her trying.

"You're the worst!" she snarled, pouting like a small child.

Raphael simply smirked again, "Yep, that's me."

Avery winced as the turtle picked her up, though she grudgingly admitted it wasn't as gross as she thought it was going to be. Though, she could tell that the turtle was still trying to "punish" her for her past behavior.

"Now put cha hands together." He instructed and when Avery clasped her hands he put her arms around his thick neck and slid her behind him like a child getting a piggyback. So Avery sat with her hands around the turtle's neck with her head resting on the edge of his shell. It was slightly strange to have her legs hanging uselessly behind as Raph straightened up. It was also intimidating to feel the pure muscle move under her arms as the turtle started forward.

Avery yelped again as Raph grabbed a hold of the bars of a fire escape and started swinging upwards, jolting the young woman. At first she thought it was just the result of being a human backpack but when she heard the turtle's amused laughter she came to the conclusion that he was indeed doing it to freak her out.

"You alrigh' Gimpy?" he chuckled as they made it to the roof of the building.

"Stop calling me that!" Avery hissed back clenching her eyes shut.

This only earned her another laugh, "Sure, when you get used to us maybe."

It was then that the turtle loped forward towards the edge of the building and jumped, landing heavily before repeating the action. Eliciting a sharp yell from Avery.

* * *

"Sir I believe we have found who you were looking for."

Eric Sacks looked up from his desk to see the intern Emily holding out a slim folder with his name on it. He had his most trusted investigator try and find the patient who was responsible for the claim posted by the hospital.

"Thank you." He said, immediately opening the folder to look at the few papers inside.

The three papers that made up the result of the digging gave a picture and name of a young Avery Ritz. Sacks smirked as he saw that both her address and phone number were posted beneath the picture. His digger had done an exceptional job. (Broad st)

"Now if we can just get this out of the way my real job needs to be addressed." He muttered, shutting the folder.

"If you would, Emily, tell my secretary that I'll be out on a business venture. So I'll need to close my office down for the rest of the night." He stood and threw on a jacket, tucking the folder under his arm.

The blonde nodded, "Of course Mr. Sacks." She said before going out of the office.

The man straightened his tie and then strode out into the hall, locking the door behind him. He quickly checked his watch and saw that it was only four in the afternoon, plenty of time to talk a little girl out of suing him.

As he stepped into the elevator he opened the folder and read over the details of Avery Ritz. Unfortunately, the specific details of her injures were unknown but the amount of money that the insurance had put towards the lawsuit definitely confirmed that they significant.

The elevator dinged and Sacks stepped lightly out into the foyer of his building which seemed to be abandoned as a graveyard. Only the bored looking man at the desk remained, though he his mind seemed devoted to the game of solitaire that was on the computer screen.

Sacks ignored him though and quickly phoned his driver, telling him to pick him up at the front in five minutes.

Within minutes a sleek black car pulled around and Eric Sacks jumped into the back, slamming the door behind him.

"Where to sir?" the driver asked.

Sacks buckled himself in and smiled, "Fifteen Broad Street."

The driver nodded, "Of course sir."

* * *

"Can you put me down?!" Avery grumbled, "My arms are killing me."

Raphael muttered something about being a baby but halted on the current rooftop that he had landed on. The turtle knelt down and lowered the young woman to the ground before straightening up and stretching his arms above his head.

Avery groaned and rubbed her wrists, cursing her useless legs to no end. They had only been travelling for maybe fifteen minutes and her apartment was only a few more blocks but she didn't want to accidentally let go when Raph was going from building to building.

She still couldn't believe that the turtle was actually taking her home and was thankful for that small miracle. The young woman still had some stubborn resentment to the fact that he had made her apologize for something that she felt she had no control over though.

Avery sighed, glad at least for the change of pace and scenery. She looked out over the rooftops and couldn't help but appreciate the sense of freedom. What it must feel like for the turtles to run across them on a regular basis.

"You good to get moving Gimpy?" Raph asked, coming to stand behind Avery.

She scowled, "I _told_ you to stop calling me that."

The turtle shrugged, "Nicknames ain't often picked there girly."

Avery rolled her eyes at this, "And since when did you decide to give me a nickname? We aren't buddies are we?" she gave a mock smile.

"No, though I tend to give 'em out when I have a bone ta pick." The turtle replied crossing his arms as he looked up at the skyline.

There was a moment where all that could be heard were the beeps of cars below as background noise. It was strange for Avery to have the opportunity to look over the entire city from the rooftop and it made her feel so much smaller. She thought about how she was just one of a million other humans running around this city. She thought back to how her life was before the whole accident and meeting the turtles.

She had lived in a small apartment with her cat while the rest of her family lived several states away in their own little world. Avery had passed through school easily and didn't need to worry about college bills thanks to her father's job. She had even been the only candidate for her job so she didn't have any competition to beat out and had been hired almost immediately. Avery had a normal life where she believed that she was the center of the universe...just like everyone else. Compared to the turtles she was like every other person in New York City; unimportant. She could have been replaced with any other young woman in the city and there wouldn't have been any difference.

They though…there were only four of them in the entire world. The turtles had even saved the city with only a handful of people knowing and they couldn't even be thanked for it. The turtles were more important than some girl who thought she deserved more than what she got.

Yet, they got nothing.

"Thank you."

This time instead of the words coming out without thought Avery mulled over them before saying them. This time she meant it as she thought about how stubborn she had been.

Raphael shifted slightly next to her, as if her words had shocked him. He was silent for a few moments.

"Fer what?" he finally asked.

The young woman smiled, "I never fully thanked any of you for saving a month ago. Saving the whole city."

The turtle's eyes widened and he let his hands fall to his sides as a silence stretched on and on. Only the dim sounds of the cars rumbled below along with what may have been a plane over head.

"Well…" Avery broke the awkward silence, "I should get home before dark."

Raph shook his head as if clearing away a thought, "Alrigh'…you're one weird chick."

It didn't take long for the two to make it to Avery's apartment and she could officially say that she broke into her own home through the third floor window. Which was an experience in of itself.

The apartment was dim as Avery was put down in one of the kitchen chairs with a huff. She rubbed her aching wrists as Raphael looked around the kitchen and living room in curiosity. He stood out starkly against the pale furniture and looked far too big for the small space.

"I have a second wheelchair in the closet over there." Avery pointed to the small closet to the left of the kitchen.

"Wha' I hafta do everything for ya?" the turtle said sarcastically, though Avery could tell that he was slightly uneasy in a confined space like the house.

The young woman scowled, "You're the one who left my other one down in the sewer."

Raph huffed to himself but carefully pulled the fold-able chair from the closet, though a few brooms seemed keen on annoying him further by continuously falling over.

"Your majesty." He grumbled setting the chair down next to Avery.

The young woman sighed as she pulled herself back into the chair, the relief of being mobile once more filling her.

"Need anything else Gimpy?" the turtle smirked as Avery flicked on a light and was immediately greeted by her lonely looking cat.

He meowed loudly and the woman petted him, his eyes wide as he bumped his striped head against the chair's wheel.

"No…" she answered, feeling strange that she was doing something normal for a change.

"But thank you again."

Raph simply shrugged and made his way back to the open window, hesitating with his hand on the window sill.

"Look, Gimpy."

Avery turned with an irritated look, "Yes?"

The turtle smirked, "Wanted ta say…sorry for scarin' ya. Wasn't fair."

The young woman blinked rapidly but smiled in return, pleasantly surprised that those words had come out of the stubborn turtle's mouth. She was about to respond when a sudden knock came from across the room, causing Avery to jump and Raph to go for his sai.

There was a moment in which the two simply stared at the front door as if it were going to explode. Then the knock came again.

"Just one second!" Avery called, her brain working to try and figure out who would be visiting her.

_'If mom arrived early I'm going to kill her…' _ Avery thought, not putting it past her overbearing mother to do something of the sort.

_'She's not supposed to come up for another two weeks.'_

She turned to warn Raph to leave but saw that the turtle had already disappeared, apparently out the window. Avery sighed before grabbing the doorknob and pulling the door open. Avery blinked in shock though as she looked up. It was not her mother as she had half expected, instead stood a middle aged man dressed in a smart looking suit and carrying a briefcase.

"Good afternoon miss, I'm sorry to arrive unannounced." The man said with a winning smile that could be attributed to either a lawyer or business man.

"Hello." She frowned, "I wasn't expecting anyone. Are you trying to sell something?" she said rather sarcastically.

The man held out a hand, "Oh no not at all. I was just wondering if I could talk to you about the recent events that have transpired involving your recent bout in the hospital."

Avery shook the outstretched hand but frowned, "Um, sure. Can I ask who you might be?" her confusion deepening.

"Again, my apologies." The man chuckled, stepping through the threshold and into the apartment.

"I should have introduced myself."

"My name is Eric Sacks."


	14. Chapter 14: Something of Interest

TMNT 2014:

**Hey, sorry for the long wait guys! I hope you all like this chapter, not too much going on but its a step towards the end :) I don't really have an excuse as to why I'm late except work and lack of inspiration. Hopefully the next update won't be as far away.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Something of Interest

Avery felt her heart grow cold as the man walked through the apartment, his sharp eyes roaming the small space. The woman knew that name. The turtles had said that the cause of the building collapse was because of a person called Eric Sacks and his master the Shredder.

The man turned back to flash another smile at Avery, "Is there somewhere we can sit and talk. I promise that I'll be brief."

The young woman was about to answer when a pair of red circled eyes appeared just behind the corner of the kitchen. Raph hadn't left like she thought…

She felt her eyes go wide but forced herself to not glance behind the man so she wouldn't give the turtle away.

"Sure, the living room should be fine." She smiled, gesturing to the couch to the left.

"I'll be there in just a second, need to grab something to drink. Water?" Avery recovered, wheeling her way towards the kitchen.

Sacks shook his head, "No, no. I'm fine."

The woman nodded while trying not to panic as her heart fluttered into her throat. The man who had been the cause of her disabled state, the man who was willing to kill Splinter and the four turtles was sitting in her living room while one of his arch enemies was hiding just ten feet away.

Avery turned the corner and saw that Raphel had moved back to where the stove was, his eyes narrowed in fury as he sai sat at the ready in his hands. The girl motioned to the door to the left that lead to the bathroom and grudgingly the turtle complied.

As soon as he made it inside she shut the door behind them.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Raph growled, keeping his voice low.

Avery ran a hand through her still tangled hair, "I have no idea. He said something about my hospital visit and an insurance claim but…he could be lying." She hissed, he heart racing.

The turtle clenched his fists, "Need to get da others here. Finish what we started."

Avery shook her head frantically.

"There is no way you can sneak out without him noticing. Ninja or no ninja there is no way he'd miss a six foot turtle leaving through the window."

There was a second of silence and Avery knew that if she stayed in the bathroom any longer Sacks would start to get suspicious.

"Look, let me just talk with him, see if he's actually here to settle a claim or not. If anything goes wrong you'll be the first to know and then you can go all ninja." She said, trying to control her shaking hands.

At first it looked like Raphael would object but with a low growl he slowly nodded.

"If I hear one thing, I'm bustin' him up. You got me?"

Avery nodded and before he could change his mind left the bathroom and closed the door firmly behind her. Quickly, she grabbed a can of cola from the fridge and wheeled her way back to the living room where Eric Sacks was patiently waiting.

"So, Mr. Sacks you said you're here because of my hospital visit?" she started off, making sure that her voice didn't shake as she took a sip of her soda.

The man nodded, placing his briefcase on the coffee table.

"Yes I did. Recently, Sacks Industries received a claim from your insurance. It claimed that my corporation should pay for the medical bills."

Avery had to try not to laugh, she thought that he better pay the bills but knew it was better to keep that particular thought to herself.

Instead she simply nodded.

"First of all, let me tell you how sorry I am that the faulty supports on my building could do something so horrific." He continued, eyeing the wheelchair that Avery sat in.

"And I will do everything in my power to make sure that the repairs are up to the standards that the citizens of New York deserve."

"So…" Avery drew out the word.

Sacks continued to give off the fake smile.

"So the reason I am here, Ms. Ritz. I'm kindly asking that you ask your insurance to revoke the claim. Just so that I can get to bottom of what happened and the real company behind this tragic accident." He concluded.

"But how am I supposed to pay the bills? Because of the accident I no longer have a job." She asked back, crossing her arms.

Sack's smile faltered slightly, "Like I said before Ms. Ritz, I am so sorry for what happened. But Sacks industries isn't really the one behind the faulty support structure. As soon as we find who is truly responsible for the lapse you will be fully compensated."

There was a moment of silence in which Avery was having an inner battle.

She had come to the conclusion that Sacks had no idea that she had anything to do with the turtles. Let alone knew the real reason behind the building collapse. So, now the real issue was making sure that the idiot didn't try and sneak anything by her. Avery knew she deserved to be compensated in full for what happened to her. On the other hand though, the longer he stayed here the bigger the chance that he might somehow figure out there was a ninja turtle hiding her bathroom.

"How long do you think that the process will take Mr. Sacks?" she asked softly, trying to seem calm and soft-spoken.

"Hopefully, with your cooperation the process of getting to the truth should only take a couple weeks. My office will even contact you when the process is complete." He pulled out a stapled set of papers and handed them to Avery.

The young woman looked them over and saw that what he was saying was all in writing. Sacks had somehow managed to frame some steel company for faulty structure construction. Below on the paper there seemed to be a few other signatures that may have been from other victims of the accident.

"Your signature below is the way that the rightful company can compensate you." Sacks clasped his hands together and looked expectantly at the woman, his sharp eyes boring into her.

For a few more minutes Avery pretended to read the forms and knew that her only options were to sign the paper, or get a lawyer and continue to pursue Sacks Industries. And she did have the money or time for a lawyer. Even if she did she couldn't currently tell said lawyer that the real reason behind her injury was Sacks trying to kill four mutant turtles.

"I see that everything seems in order." She finally said, trying to put on a nice innocent smile.

Eric Sacks grinned, "Excellent! I'm glad that you agree."

Without further ado he handed Avery a spiffy new pen and she carefully signed her name on the last line of the paper. She handed the papers back and crossed her arms, trying not to seem impatient as she saw the bathroom door crack open slightly.

"Thank you for your cooperation Ms. Ritz, I promise that this will all be resolved quickly." Sacks held out a hand and Avery leaned forward to shake it.

Just as the man held her hand Avery felt his grip tighten for a split second and his eyes widened. She was about to ask what was wrong but the bout lasted only a second and the business man smile was back within second.

"Again, a real pleasure." He took his hand back and began digging in his pocket.

"If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me."

With a flick of his wrist Sacks pulled out a sleek looking business card and handed it to Avery with a slight wink.

The young woman tried to smile back as she took the card, "Have a good one Mr. Sacks."

Sacks dipped he head as he stood and walked back towards the door, "Thanks, you as well Ms. Ritz."

He straightened his shoulders and slowly opened the door, "Please don't hesitate to call."

And with that he shut the door.

With a sigh Avery hunched over in her chair, feeling all her energy fade away as the threat of imminent danger faded.

There was loud bang though as the bathroom door was fully opened and Raphael stepped out, his eyes still narrowed in anger.

"Coulda taken 'im." He growled, reluctantly sliding his sai back into his belt.

Avery shook her head, "No. I haven't seen what this guy can do but I've felt the effects of what he's willing to throw away to get what he wants. It's better that he doesn't know that I've seen you guys."

The turtle glanced down at the wheelchair, his vengeful expression dissipating slightly. He sighed to himself and glanced at the door once more before turning to go back to the window.

"I think ya plans need to change. If Sacks knows where ya live you can't stay here." He said, opening the window.

Avery groaned, knowing that what he said was true. But she had just gotten home, the last thing she wanted to do was head back down to the sewers. She also wasn't looking forward to the painful journey across the rooftops.

"Give me just like…fifteen minutes." She said, turning to head over to her bedroom to grab new clothes.

The turtle rolled his eyes, "Make it ten."

The young woman gave him a sarcastic thumbs up, "Can't make any promises."

* * *

"Ya almost done in there?! We need ta get outta here!" Raphael shouted across the apartment, knowing the Avery was taking much more than her allotted ten minutes.

He was currently leaning against the kitchen counter, out of sight of the front door or any windows just in case Sacks wanted to spy on his new found "friend". Though Avery's striped tabby cat wasn't so keen on leaving him be. She was currently pawing at the tasseled ends of his belt.

There was a sharp click as a door on the other side of the room opened quickly, revealing the Avery with dripping hair and a small backpack.

"I'm sorry if I'd prefer not to smell like a sewer." She grumbled, throwing the bag over her shoulders.

The turtle simply huffed before offering a hand.

"You didn't keep that card did ya? Las' time April found out it had a trackin' chip innit." Raph said as the woman hung from his shell once more.

She shook her head, "No, threw it away as soon as he left."

"Good." He growled as he carefully eased his way out of the window and up onto the roof of the apartment.

"Last thing we need is Sacks knockin' on our door again."

Avery felt most of the breath leave her lungs as the turtle swung up and out the window before climbing the fire escape.

To their left the sun began its descent towards the horizon, not quite setting but definitely not at its peak. Luckily, it didn't take long for the two of them to reach the manhole from which they had come up from. Raph crouched down and removed the manhole cover and carefully lowered Avery back down into her awaiting wheelchair.

She winced since the seat was somewhat damp but tried to ignore the slight inconvenience, Avery was just happy that she had been able to take a shower before coming back down to the sewers.

"C'mon, we need ta tell the others about your visitor." Raph muttered as he peeked around the corner of the sewer to make sure that whatever it was his brothers had gone after didn't follow them.

Avery cocked her head to see if she could hear anything but the sound of traffic up above along with the echoing drips from the sewer made that almost impossible. Without a word Raph trotted around the corner and Avery followed suit, careful to not tip her chair over for a third time.

It shouldn't have taken long to get back to the lair but Raphael was careful to check around every corner, and constantly had one hand on his sai. It took almost fifteen minutes for the two of them to get back to the brick wall.

"Stay back for a second, wanna check ta see if anyone's inside." The turtled muttered, reaching up and pulling the hidden pipe that activated the door.

Avery sat back and held her breath as the door opened and Raph suddenly lunged forward. The young woman gasped and rolled forward, expecting to see some sort of black clad man or group of ninjaesc warriors prepared for battle.

For two seconds Raph held his sai up as the blade of a katana came to a halt centimeters from his neck. Across from the red banded turtle stood Leonardo, the katana resting in his hand. His narrowed eyes widened as he realized who was standing across from him.

"Expecting someone else?" Raph smirked as his brother lowered his weapon and he lowered his.

"Where'd you disappear to? We thought something had happened?" Leo scowled, glancing behind Raph to Avery who gave a nervous wave.

"Little miss sunshine here decided to go for a ride. We had a little bit of a chat." The red banded turtle said with a grin as he walked back towards the kitchen when Splinter was sitting.

Behind in the living room stood Mikey and Donatello who looked expectantly around their older brother, and seemed to sigh in relief as they saw it was only Avery and Raphael.

"Did you guys find out who was in the tunnels?" the young woman asked, rolling her chair up to the blue masked turtle.

"It ended up being a group of construction workers mapping out a section of sewer. Luckily they didn't even come close to here." He smiled but it faded as he cocked and eye ridge.

"Where'd you disappear to?"

"Well, Raph was going to take me back home but unfortunately Eric Sacks decided to pay me a visit."

Leo's eyes went wide in surprise at this revelation but he let her continue on with her explanation. Avery briefly went over how Raph had taken her back to her apartment when Sacks had shown up out of the blue. As she continued to tell her story both Splinter, Don and Michelangelo came over to stand next to their brother.

"So Sacks knows that you were involved somehow, maybe it would have been better for you to stay home…" Splinter said quietly, stroking his whiskers in a thoughtful manner.

Leo nodded, "He might have someone watching your apartment but at this point the less they see you the better."

"It ain't all rocks up there!" Raph called across the lair, tapping the side of his head with a grin which caused Leonardo to simply roll his eyes.

"I'm just glad that Sack didn't seem too keen on doing anything drastic." Donatello said.

"He could have just as easily threatened you to give up the insurance claim."

Avery sighed, "Hopefully I don't mean enough for him to worry about."

The turtles all nodded in agreement and were about to turn to leave their little gathering when Avery held out a hand.

"Hey, before you go back to your business."

The three turtle shared a glance before halting.

"Earlier, when Raph said we had a chat…I wanted to apologize for treating you guys the way I did. It was unfair to judge you all by the way you look."

Smiles spread across Leo, Mikey, and Donnie's faces.

"I wanted to ask your forgiveness…" she finished, holding her hand out fully.

Leonardo stepped forward and took it, shaking it gently.

"No need."

"Yeah chica, fear does all sorts of weird stuff to a person!" Michelangelo said as he jumped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

There was a moment where Avery took a breath but didn't flinch away. Instead she smiled.

"At least the upside to this whole thing was that I was able to finally take a shower."

* * *

Sacks smiled as he shook the young woman's hand but was mentally trying to comprehend what he saw. There…on the woman's neck was what looked like a mass of bumps or scales. His mind was racing as he let go of her hand.

How and why did she have scales on her neck? How…

Sack's mind immediately went to the fact that the woman had been caught in the debris of the falling building. The same building on which the turtles, Shredder, and the mutagen had fallen off of. Different scenarios flashed through his mind but he knew that whatever had happened this girl knew more than she was letting on.

"Again, a pleasure." He smiled, rummaging in his pocket for a business card.

"If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me." He gave the card to Ms. Ritz.

Then with that, he turned and started walking towards the door.

His first thought was that he had to tell Master Shredder about this sudden development. All of a sudden the problem regarding the lawsuits and claims became so much smaller. This girl could change everything for him and the Foot Clan.

Quickly, Sacks hurried down to the elevator and tapped his foot impatiently as the lift lowered itself to the first floor. As soon as the doors cracked open the man made his way out of the apartment and out to where the black car was waiting for him.

The door of the car slammed shut and within second Sack's had his phone out and was dialing number rapidly. He put the device to his ear as his fingers drummed against his knee, the phone ringing dimly.

"Nani?" a gruff voice answered, like metal grinding.

"Sensei…" Sacks started out, "I believe I have found something of interest."


	15. Chapter 15: Results

TMNT 2014:

**Hey all! Sorry for the wait, just getting finished with midterms so that's always fun -_- But look I updated! Let me know what you think, reviews are what keep me going! Love to hear your suggestions :) Godbless- Rin**

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Chapter 15: Results

"Dammit..." Avery cursed as she had to pick herself up from the floor for the second time that day.

The young woman had simply been trying to get around the lair when her chair would get caught on a pipe or a rough piece of concrete and refuse to budge.

This time she had been on her way back from the bathroom when her chair had actually caught on of the training room's rug. This caused her to tip her chair. The only upside that Avery could get out of this situation was that she was getting a good upper body workout.

Luckily, none of the turtles were there to laugh at her awkwardness. Leo and Splinter had gone out on a training exercise earlier that morning, Donatello was holed up in his lab, Raph had gone topside, and Mikey...well Avery wasn't sure what Mikey was doing. To be honest she hadn't see him much since the evening before when she had apologized. She assumed he was either playing video games somewhere or had possibly gone outside to join his brother.

Pushing these thoughts away Avery repositioned herself in her chair and absentmindedly scratched at her neck. The scales catching under her fingernails.

_'Soon...I'll get answers...'_ Avery thought as she rolled her way back to her little room.

Hopefully, Donatello would be able to tell her what was going on with her and tell her how to cure it. Avery continued to be lost in her own thoughts as she rubbed her thumb against the rough nubs, not noticing the shadow coming up behind her.

"I've come for your _soooul_!"

Avery felt her heart nearly stop as an involuntary shriek escaped her lips. She whipped around and tried to back her wheelchair up. Unfortunately, she only succeeded in tipping it backwards so she landed on her back, the wind rushing from the young woman's lungs.

At first Avery had no clue as to what happened but heard the rapid spurt of giggles that turned into full-bellied chuckles within seconds. The girl shifted and saw Michelangelo bent double laughing his shell off as she tried to gain her breath back.

At that moment the lab door slammed opened with a disgruntled Donnie glaring out at whoever was making the ruckus.

"Mikey…what did you do!?" he growled, striding over as the orange banded brother, his bespectacled eyes growing wide as he saw Avery on the ground.

"I…haha…I was using my ninja stealth!" He tried to cover his laughter but in the end only devolved back into giggles.

"Nice job…you could've given her a heart attack or a concussion." Donnie looked down at the panting girl with a concerned look as he helped her back into her chair.

"Are you okay Avery?"

She nodded and held up a hand as she caught her breath, both irritated and panicked at the same time.

"I'm, fine…just winded." Avery said after a moment, glaring daggers at Mikey who had contented himself to grinning smugly.

The purple banded brother shook his head and sighed, "You need a better way of getting around. One of these days you're gunna get into trouble with that chair."

The young woman rolled her eyes, "Yeah, legs would be ideal but I'll manage…"

"Maybe this one could find a better use of him time though." She jerked a thumb at Michelangelo who made an exaggerated boo-boo face.

"Aw, that cuts deep ya know." He stuck out his bottom lip and feigned tears.

Avery simple shook her head, it was like she was dealing with her twelve year old brother again.

"I could probably find a way to make it easier for you to get around though." Donnie said squatting down to inspect the slick, slim wheels of my wheelchair.

Avery peered over and ran a thumb over the wearing tread, "That would actually be great. Would you really be able to do that?!"

Donatello grinned and his glasses flashed, "You're talking to the turtle who can build a motherboard out of paperclips, copper wire, and an old deliberator circuits. I think I can change a wheelchair tire."

Only a few minutes later Avery was wincing as another hammer blow hit the side of her wheelchair. She luckily was sitting off to the side in a desk chair while Donnie worked on her wheelchair.

"I thought he was just changing the tires?" she asked, looking at the on looking Michelangelo to her right.

The younger turtle simple shrugged with a smile, "When Donnie gets something in his mind he don't stop til he thinks it's perfect."

The young woman sighed and watched as the purple clad turtle tinkered with something underneath the chair. It was fun to watch Donatello work but at the same time Avery was wary of the smoke stained walls and the singed doorway.

"He wouldn't put anything…per say dangerous on my chair right?" she asked again, crossing her arms.

Mikey laughed, somewhat nervously.

"Well, he won't do it on purpose but…Don doesn't have the most stable inventions sometimes…"

Avery swallowed nervously and groaned, putting her head in her hands. She was quickly regretting allowing the turtle to tinker with her chair.

"Hey Don? Ya got any…"

Both Mikey and Avery looked up as Raphael walked into the lab, his sentence getting cut off as he saw what his brother was working on.

"What in da…" the red banded turtle sighed as Donatello gave a slightly nervous grin along with a wave.

"You need something Raph?"

The other turtle glanced at Mikey, who waved as well, and Avery, who shook her head once more in embarrassment. He scowled and looked back at Donnie, who simple smiled expectantly.

"Nevermind, I don't wanna know." Raph shook his head and waved his hands.

"The less I know the less I can say when this all goes to hell." He grumbled and turned to leave once more.

Avery sighed, "I'm doomed…"

* * *

April followed Leonardo into the lair when the smell of smoke hit her nose. At first she glanced to the kitchen and expected to see Mikey trying to cook something but, the kitchen was empty and the smoke came from elsewhere.

"Oh no…" Leo grumbled and trotted across the lair to the closed door of Donatello's lab.

April followed and covered her nose with her shirt as she saw the smoke curling up from under the door.

The blue banded turtle was about to pull the door open but as his fingers touched the doorknob the door was pulled open to reveal a coughing Michelangelo and Avery.

The turtle was holding up the young woman as he hobbled though the door, ignoring the bewildered Leo and April.

"AIR!" the youngest turtle gasped placing Avery onto the pizza box couch before he collapsed to the ground.

The young woman coughed before gasping dramatically, a slight grin on her face as she sat up on the couch.

"What is going on?!" Leonardo demanded, glancing into the smoke filled lab before looking back over at Mikey.

The orange turtle picked himself up and leaned against the side of the couch, "Donnie wanted to pimp out Avery's chair. I think he's trying to attach rockets now…"

April blinked in surprise, "Why would you let him do that!?"

"I tried to…there wasn't much I could do though." Avery said, taking a deep breath.

Right then there was a loud bang and something came shooting out of the lab.

"DUCK!" a voice called out of the lab and Leo pushed April out of the way as Avery had to almost dive off the couch.

The blurry shape shot out of the lab and hit one of the pillars holding the ceiling up, it ricocheted and hit the ground with another loud bang before rolling to a stop directly in front of the entrance, at the feet of the on looking Master Splinter.

"Uh-oh…" Mikey muttered.

The blur turned out to be a severely dented and deflated wheel from the wheelchair that the old rat picked up, his brow furrowed harshly as he gazed up and looked at each of his sons.

"Where is Donnatello?" he said softly but with all the force of a hammer blow.

On que, the purple clad turtle stumbled from his lab, coughing into his fist as the smoke began to clear. Oil, and smoke had darkened parts of the turtle's skin and his glasses.

"I'm…I'm here sensei…" he panted, all excitement for his project gone and was replaced by shame as he master approached.

"What is the meaning of this?" the rat held up the tire.

Donnie winced, "I…I was…experimenting." He murmured, shuffling his feet on the floor.

Splinter nodded slowly, "Do you understand what your actions could have done my son!?"

The turtle simply nodded.

"You could have seriously hurt someone. I have told you time and again to curb your dangerous experiments!"

"Yes…sensei."

The rat glanced around at the other turtles before staring down at his son.

"One night in the hashi. So you make think about the consequences of your actions."

At this Donatello gulped and seemed to almost groan.

Avery looked confusedly at Mikey.

"What's the hashi?" She asked, the word falling strangely on her ears.

The orange turtle grimaced but turned to whisper, "It's basically hardcore timeout. It's a way that Splinter would punish us for doing something bad ever since we started our training."

Avery frowned, "But Donnie didn't doing anything wrong. He was trying to help!"

The orange banded turtle shrugged, "It doesn't matter what he meant…to Master Splinter if you do something to mess up you need to learn from your mistake."

At this the young woman shook her head and pulled herself up to look over the back of the pizza box couch. She didn't want Donnie to get in trouble on her behalf.

"Master Splinter!"

The rat had turned to leave but paused to look at the young woman, his eyes curious as everyone in the room turned to look at Avery in surprise. She blushed at the sudden attention but cleared her throat before speaking.

"Master Splinter, may I ask…please…don't punish Donatello! He was only trying to help me…I've been having problems getting around in my chair so he offered to help fix my wheelchair. He was only trying to help…"

The rat blinked in surprise and considered the request.

The young woman glanced at the purple clad turtle who seemed to be particularly interested in looking at the floor. It was then that Avery realized that perhaps she shouldn't have said anything and her face began to burn in embarrassment.

"Perhaps…the hashi would not be a good use of Donatello's time…"

At this the turtle's head popped up in shock, his bespectacled eyes wide as he looked at his master with unbridled befuddlement.

"Instead, you are to clean our home until every remnant of smoke is gone and you must fix Ms. Avery's chair."

Donnie was about to answer when Master Splinter held up a knobby digit.

"_Without _tinkering with it."

"Yes, sensei." He finally answered, bowing at the waist as Leo, April, Mikey, and Avery looked on in what seemed to be disbelief.

It was only after Splinter left did Donnie let out a long breath and sat down in a sunken old chair, a nervous grin plastered on his face.

"Thank you for that…I definitely didn't want to spend the night in the hashi."

Avery sat down with a huff, letting her legs fall over the edge uselessly as April sat down next to her. She felt like she had just gotten off a rollercoaster, her adrenaline pumping.

"Yeah, well I couldn't let you get in trouble simply for trying to help. Besides, you're the only one who can fix my chair and my scaly condition."

"Oh yeah! How is that test going Don?" Leo asked, turning to his brother.

"Right…I almost forgot about that testing. It should have finished up this morning."

Avery's eyes went wide, "Really!? The results are ready!?"

The turtled nodded, "They should be. I'll go check, don't move." He sat up quickly and headed back into his lab, leaving everyone to look after him.

Avery curled her hands into fists in anticipation, she would finally be able to get some answers.

"Are you gunna be okay with the outcome?" April asked, putting a hand on Avery's shoulder.

The young woman shrugged, suddenly feeling like she was about to take some sort of big exam or test.

"I…I just want to know at this point. I'll figure out what to do with the results afterwards." She said, scratching at a relatively new scale just under her jaw.

"Hey! What I miss? It smells like a frickin' firework went off." Raphael suddenly came sulking down the stairs, his eyes going to the gathering in the living room.

"Donnie tried to_ improve_ Avery's wheelchair and went a little over board." Leonardo explained, crossing his arms as he brother came to stand behind the couch.

Michelangelo laughed, "Improve is a bit too generous a word there Leo."

The red banded turtle smirked, "And that is why I don't git involved with that shell-fer-brain's projects."

"It's also this _shell-for-brain's_ job to fix your weights when you break them, Raph." Donnie appeared in the lab's doorway, raising an eye ridge at his older brother.

Raph blinked in surprise, not knowing that the purple masked turtle had been standing there. He simply grumbled something under his breath earning a smirk from the others.

"So…" Avery said slowly, drawing attention back to matter at hand.

"What do we have Donnie?"

Donatello peered down at the sheet of paper that was gripped in his hand, his eyes flicking back and forth behind his glasses. Avery felt her heart beating against her ribcage as she waited, fighting against the urge to snatch the paper away and read it herself.

"Well?" Leo asked after the silence had reach a good three or so minutes.

Don looked up and glanced over at Avery with a bizarre look, "I'm not exactly sure…the results of the blood test are strange. But, the main point is that, you somehow…got mutagen into your blood stream."

There was a moment of silence in which all eyes went to Avery, who simply looked at the turtles in confusion.

"What is mutagen? I have no idea what that's supposed to mean!"

Donatello looked to Leo, the blue banded turtles thinking hard as he turned to the young woman.

"Mutagen is what made us into what we are today. We started out as normal box turtles but now we're…well you can see what we've turned into. It must have gotten into your blood when the building collapsed on you. The sample that the Shredder had must've shattered onto you." Leonardo said, tapping a finger against his chin in thought.

"That has to be the only way."

Avery's face whitened a few shades as she began to grasp what Leonardo was saying and she looked down horrified at her shaking hands. April put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder but she flinched away.

"So…you're saying that I'm t-turning into something else?" she asked softly, her hands going to her neck, her fingers rubbing the scales.

"Yes, into what I'm not sure though…technically it could be anything but from the test it looks like progression is slow. It could take a long while for anything major to happen." he said, trying to give some sort of encouragement but it was evident that Avery was having a hard time excepting what was told.

"I'm actually mutating…" she breathed and tears began to form in her eyes.

The four brothers looked at each other, at a loss as for what to do. They weren't use to having to deal with humans, especially sensitive ones like Avery.

"Hey…hey." April said softly, trying to comfort the young woman when she suddenly began to shudder, intensely scratching at her neck as if she had been bitten or stung.

"Avery!" April gasped at the sudden vicious act and tried to grab the girl's wrist to stop her from hurting herself.

"I can't!" she wept, almost falling off the couch as she shied away from April, her nails digging against the scales.

"I can't turn into a mutant!" Avery sobbed hysterically, blood beginning to bead and drip from her scratches.

The turtles all jumped into action at this; Leonardo reaching the young woman first as Mikey jumped up from his sitting position on the floor, Donnie rushed to his lab, and Raph nearly vaulted the couch to get around it.

"Avery stop!" the blue banded turtle shouted, grabbing her wrists forcefully.

He didn't want to hurt her but the girl tried to twist away so he was obliged to clamp his fingers harder against her wrists. She struggled for a few seconds more before she seemed to see she was overpowered by the stronger turtle. Avery looked up with red eyes and a dripping face, her eyes focusing on her hands with bits of scale and red smeared across them.

Blood was smeared across her neck but was already starting to clot as Avery looked to the turtle grabbing her wrists hopelessly.

"Avery?" Leo asked softly, trying to get her to look at him.

Her dark eyes met his for a moment before she collapsed into whimpers on the couch, her shoulders shaking as Leonardo gently released her wrists. It was then that Donatello came back with a roll of bandages and some antiseptic, his glasses flashing in the light.

With a few soft words from April and a hand on her arm Avery sat up, dull eyes glued to the floor as the bespectacled turtle knelt in front of her. Carefully, he began to dab at the scratches with antiseptic and cover them with gauze.

"It's okay Avery. We're going try and find a way to help you, you're not going to mutate." He said, glancing up from wrapping a bandage around the woman's neck.

She nodded ever so slightly, wiping her nose with a shaking hand before sniffing loudly.

"Yeah, we aren't gunna just leave you." Mikey tried to smile encouragingly but it did little to help.

Donnie finished up bandaging Avery's neck and stepped back, the turtles waiting to see if she would do or say anything other than stare straight ahead. For several seconds Avery just stared, her mind seemed to be in a different place as she rubbed at the bandage around her neck.

"Can I go home?"

At this everyone started, not expecting Avery to speak. She looked up at April dully, her face tacky from crying.

April looked up at the turtles before scooting closer to the young woman, who looked more like a scared five year old.

"Yeah…yeah you can go home. That should give you time to collect your thoughts huh?" she said with a small smile.

"If you want I can stay with you, keep you company."

Again Avery nodded, rubbing her shoulder, "Yeah…"

"What do you guys think?" the woman asked the turtles.

Raphael looked like he was about object but Leo gave the slightest of hand gestures to shut him down. He nodded and gave an encouraging smile.

"I think that would be for the best."


	16. Chapter 16: Deal With the Devil

TMNT 2014:

**Hello readers! I know its been awhile but here is the next chapter, only a few more to go until the end. I'm amazed that I got this out right before school ended...I guess that's what I get for putting this off for so long. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Chapter 16: Deal With the Devil

"Hey Avery, I made some breakfast if you want." April gently knocked on the bedroom door, balancing a dish of delicious microwaved waffles and orange slices.

There was no answer.

April sighed and opened the door, peeking into the dim bedroom and the small lump under the white comforter. There was a slight rise and fall of steady breath and the woman felt herself relax slightly. It had been only two days since Avery had gotten the news about her condition but April had hoped she'd been more confident in the turtles to help her.

She set the plate of food on Avery's dresser before slowly closing the door with a click. A moment of silence passed before the lump under the blankets shifted and Avery's face turned over to glance at the plate across the room.

The young woman sniffed before rolling over so her back was facing the door again. She pulled the blanket over her head but didn't close her eyes. She'd had too many nightmares of her transforming into a scaly beast to even consider sleeping.

Instead she kept playing with the crumpled piece of paper she held in her hand, flipping it this way and that as she watched the holographic digits of a phone number flash.

Outside, April sat in the living room, sipping on a cup of coffee with Avery's cat sleeping next to her. She quietly was flipping through a magazine, her thoughts clouded and jumbled.

'_Am I being too pushy? Should I let her get back on her feet by herself? Maybe I should try and take her for a walk..' _April thought to herself as she mindlessly flipped past pictures of makeup advertisements and dress models.

April was so preoccupied with her thoughts that when a series of taps came from behind her she jumped, startling the cat next to her.

Without a second thought the woman turned to look out the windows behind in the kitchen, and there she saw the colored bandannas and green skin.

"Guys what are you doing?" she whispered, as she opened the window so that the four mutant turtles could climb through.

"You've been gone for two days so we wanted to make sure that you two were alright. Sacks could have this place under surveillance." Leo said softly, glancing warily around the apartment.

"That's why you shouldn't be here!" April hissed, crossing her arms over her chest at her friend's recklessness.

"What if they follow you back to the lair!?"

"They ain't gunna follow us without us knowin'." Raph growled, looking around the kitchen into the living room.

"Where's Avery?"

April's stern look melted and she sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get rid of the turtles without them getting the info they wanted.

"She's still in bed…actually she hasn't left it since we got here. Been taking it slow." She said, walking back over to the living room since the bulky turtles were taking up most of the kitchen.

At this Donatello frowned, "She can't give up! I just need time to figure out how to reverse the effects of mutagen." He said, a little louder than was needed.

"Shhhh!" April put a finger to her lips as she sat down on a stool, her frustration rising.

"She's not giving up Donnie. Avery just needs some time, she took the news hard. How would you like it if one of you got hurt and then discovered that you were going to continue turning into something scary?" the woman said.

"Pfftt, that ship has already sailed." Mikey grinned, earning himself a glare from April and an elbow from Leo.

"Anyway, she just needs something to bring her around, shock her back to her old self…" The woman was half way to finishing her sentence when she glanced at Michelangelo.

"And that does not mean scaring her, Mikey."

The turtle's eyes went wide, "I wasn't even thinking about that!" he waved his hands back and forth.

It was then that a click permeated the air and everyone turned to see the door across the room crack open. Slowly, the gap widened and Avery appeared in her wheelchair. Her hair was messy and she was still in her pajamas.

Her eyes immediately saw the gathering of reptiles in her kitchen and she froze, eyes darting around warily as she slowly wheeled out.

"Avery! How're you feeling?" Donnie smiled, and trotted forward causing the girl to halt warily.

Her eyes lowered to the floor as the turtle came to a stop.

"I came out to use the bathroom, if you'd excuse me." She said softly, turning her wheel chair to go through the kitchen.

Avery wheeled silently past the kitchen and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

The crestfallen turtles stared at the door as if it had personally offended them and April sighed heavily.

"Look, I know you guys are trying to keep us safe, but maybe you should…" the woman didn't want to say it.

"Go?" Leo said, his brow furrowed as he glanced back at April.

She nodded, "I'm not a psychiatrist but I know how to deal with tough news. It takes time."

The turtles seemed unsatisfied but at the moment there was nothing they could do. April was right; time was the one thing that could fix this.

"Let's head home." Leonardo said, turned back to face the window.

One by one the turtles turned and went back out the window that they come from, the last of which was Raph, who hesitated.

"If she don' perk up soon call us." The red banded turtle said as he gripped the window sill and swung out onto the fire escape.

April nodded, "I will…I just hope it won't take you yelling at her to knock her out of this."

The turtle simply shook his head before pulling himself up and out of sight, leaving an empty fire escape behind.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't mind staying another night." April said as she put on her yellow coat, flipping her hair over the collar.

Avery tried to give a convincing smile but it didn't seem to fool the other woman in the slightest. She sighed but crossed her arms, "April you've done a lot for me already. I'll live…"

April nodded reluctantly but quickly stepped forward and gave Avery a hug. The young woman started at the sudden motion but returned the gesture.

"Just promise me you'll call if anything goes wrong." She said as she pulled back, a genuine smile on her face.

Avery nodded, "I will…"

"Good." April said and opened the door to the apartment.

With one last encouraging smile the woman left, closing the door with a click. Avery let her smile drop as she turned to head back to her kitchen. Her cat followed her eagerly as Avery threw down some food for him, bending over in her chair to make sure it didn't go everywhere. Without a sound a small, white piece of paper fell from the pocket on her shirt and landed in the cat dish.

"Forgot I had that in there." She murmured, picking up the card and gazed at the holographic font.

The phone number flashed silver and the young woman bit her lip as the same dilemma that had popped into her head before came back.

_'I can't go to the doctors…and the turtles don't know if they can fix me…' _she thought and tapped the card against her numb leg.

"I have no other choice." Avery said slightly louder as if to convince herself and her cat meowed in reply.

Slowly, she wheeled over to her telephone and picked it up, staring at it for several minutes as if it were a nasty pill she had to take. Quickly, Avery dialed in the number on the business card and held the phone to her ear. Centuries seemed to go by as the rings droned three times before a bored sounding woman picked up.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a tired tone.

Avery swallowed as her mouth suddenly went dry, "Yes…may I speak to Mr. Sacks please."

* * *

April frowned to herself as she walked down the street, heading towards the subway so that she could head home.

_'Will she actually be okay?'_ The young woman thought to herself as she turned down the corner, and almost ran into a man with a briefcase because she was so caught up in her own thoughts.

"Sorry…" she muttered, getting a brief glance of the man's pinstriped suit before she had moved on.

April thought back to how she had felt when her father had passed away and how she had no idea what to do. The only thing that had given her some hope during those times was the care of her grandparents, who had taken her in. April sighed and stuffed her hands into her pocket, frustrated at the strange situation. As her hand entered her pocket something cold and metal brushed her fingers.

_'Avery's house keys!' _ The young woman realized as she pulled the ring of three keys out of her pocket.

Avery has let her borrow the keys so that she could come in and out of the house while she was tucked away in her room. April had totally forgotten to give them back before she left.

"Maybe this will give me a chance to talk to her some more." She muttered, turning on her heel to walk back to Avery's apartment.

She was just walking around the corner of the alley when something caught her by the elbow and she recognized the pinstriped suit that she had nearly run into a few minutes earlier.

"Why, hello Ms. O'Neal." Eric Sacks said smoothly, a malicious smile curving his mouth.

April felt her heart jump into her throat as she tried to pull her arm away from the man who had nearly killed her a few months earlier. Unfortunately, his hand was like an iron vice and held onto her with a death grip.

"Let me go, Sacks!" April hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Or what, you'll call for your little reptile friends? Please do April, I'd love to have my Foot ninja capture them once again." His smile broadened as he began to lead the woman down the street.

April growled, "I don't have to call them. One scream and I can have the police coming for you."

Sacks only laughed and shook his head like he was listening to the rambles of a child.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Especially, when Ms. Avery is so very _vulnerable_ right no."

April's eyes went wide and her anger turned to horror in an instant.

"That's a good girl. You always were so compassionate." Sacks chuckled as he led April down the street and back inside Avery's apartment building. Without another word the two walked to the elevator and the doors opened with a push of a button.

Sacks kept his grip in the woman's elbow while looking calmly ahead. His dark eyes watched the numbers above the door slowly go up with a hunger until the lift stopped with a chime.

"This is our floor." He quipped gleefully and stepped forward, pulling April with him.

"What do you want with her, Sacks!?" April tried to twist her arm but the man's grip only pinched her harder.

He continued to look forward as step by step the two made their way towards the door at the end of the hall.

"Ms. Ritz seems to be in need of my company's assistance. She called me to help her with a certain medical issue that had to remain _confidential_." He said smoothly.

April's eyes widened at this and she grimaced, "You liar! She's never call you, after all you've done!"

Sack's halted for a moment and turned his eyes to meet April's.

"You don't seem to know your friend as well as you think, Ms. O'Neil. Avery called me just a few minutes ago. She was very specific in that she thought I was the only one that could help her."

There was a tense moment of silence as April stared horrified at Sacks as he began to walk forward once more. Anger, shock, and fear bubbling up inside her as the two reached the end of the hall.

Sacks raised his hand knock when April viciously ripped her elbow from his grip, reaching for her pocket to pull out her cellphone and call the turtles. She stumbled down the hall and was about to reach the end of the hall when the elevator opened once more.

A group of black clad ninja stepped out silently, causing April to come to a screeching halt. Without hesitation the lead ninja stepped forward and unsheathed a sword in the woman's face.

"You're not going anywhere."


End file.
